Tall Tails
by vivaciousWordsmith
Summary: After pissing off a rather powerful houshi, InuYasha gets an...interesting spell cast on him. Will he be able to get the spell removed and kick ass once again, or will our hanyou be stuck catching sticks and chasing his own tail?
1. What Happens When You Break a Dokko

**note from baneofshadow: This idea has been stuck in my head ever since I caught a glimpse of a doujinshi called Natsu Uguisu, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! ^^**

**UPDATE: The Feudal Association gave ****Tall Tails**** 3rd place Best In-Character for June 2011!**

**Thank you for your votes; I really can't say how much this means to me. **

***sniffs***

* * *

It was an ordinary day. In a nondescript and normal forest, a boar was rooting in the grass for food. The boar lifted its head as the bushes behind it rustled. Its flimsy ears flicked slightly as its beady eyes scanned the bushes surrounding it for signs of predators. When it saw nothing, it gave a relieved snort and turned away.

The bushes seemed to explode as a shadowy figure leaped at the boar. The wild pig squealed and tried to make a break for it. Too late-a clawed hand descended on the boar's neck and with one deft blow, snapped its spine in two. It collapsed to the ground, dead as a stone.

"All right!" InuYasha stood up, grabbing the dead boar by the scruff of its neck and looking at it with pride in his golden eyes. "Yeah, this'll do! We won't be hungry tonight!" Slinging the carcass over his shoulder, InuYasha started off in the direction of the camp that his group had made before he had gone off to hunt. Still feeling cheerful about the success of the hunt, the hanyou didn't notice the golden glitter underneath his feet until he heard a great _CRUNCH._

"YOUKAI! What have you done?"

InuYasha turned about, his good mood instantly gone as an irate-looking houshi approached him, a look of horrified anger on his face as he dived to the ground beneath the hanyou's feet and seized something. "Uh...you gotta problem with me?" InuYasha growled. He didn't like houshi much. He had the perverted Miroku to deal with, not to mention the overly spiritual followers who believed that anyone with even a scrap of youkai blood in them was an evil spirit who had to be slain. _'Figure's I'd have to deal with one after a hunt,' _he grumbled to himself.

"My precious dokko!" the houshi wailed, holding a rather mangled-looking object in his hands. "The heirloom that my master gave me before his passing! IT'S RUINED!" The houshi turned on him, his eyes blazing with anger. "YOU! YOU DID THIS, YOUKAI!"

InuYasha scowled. "So what? It's just a fuckin' golden rod. Get a new one somewhere else."

The houshi's face went bright red. "You shall _pay, _youkai!" The houshi removed something from his robe and threw it at the ground by InuYasha's feet.

InuYasha smirked. "Where d'you think you're-"

Without warning, what seemed to be a great burst of lightning erupted from the ofuda on the ground, arching over the hanyou's body like vines. With a snarl of pain, InuYasha was brought to his hands and knees, the lightning binding him as surely as the sealing arrow had bound him to the tree fifty-two years ago. _'Dammit, I can't move!' _he cursed, gritting his teeth as the boar rolled away into the underbrush. If he could only get his hand over to that damn ofuda, he might be able to escape...

"Now I have you, youkai, and I shall render you harmless!" The houshi removed something from his robes. It looked like a small metal circle with a six-pointed star captured inside of it. The houshi lifted his hand out in front of him, holding out his first two fingers as he held the circle with his other hand. InuYasha glared at him, daring him to continue.

The houshi glared right back and began chanting slowly. The circle pulsed with power and began to glow a bright blue color. The hanyou's insides twisted horribly, and if he had not been paralyzed, he would have cried out with pain. _'Wha...wha...what the hell?' _he cursed. The houshi continued his chant, and the twisting sensation spread through his body, ripping through him in agonizing waves. _'Dammit...' _InuYasha cursed. He'd never felt _anything _like this before. His eyes were blinded with pain, and he could barely hear anything over the beat of his pounding heart. _'What's happening to me?'_

The houshi's chant reached its climax, and the hanyou finally let out a yowl of pain as his body convulsed painfully. There came a feeling like he was being wound so tightly that he would surely break, and then...

He fell to the ground, dazed and trembling with shock. The houshi strode over to him and ripped the ofuda off from the ground.

_"Dammit, what did you do to me?"_ InuYasha asked.

The houshi didn't answer as he tucked the ofuda back into his robe. He turned back and glared down at InuYasha. "You were lucky, youkai," he said scornfully. "I went easy on you."

_"You call that easy, you fuckin' houshi?" _he snapped back. Why wasn't this houshi paying attention to him?

"Yes, I merely transformed your body into something less harmful, rather than slaying you outright." The houshi turned away and began to walk into the forest. "May we never meet again, and I hope you enjoy your new life as an animal," he called back.

InuYasha blinked after him. _"Animal...transformed...hey, what the fuck do you mean by that?" _He tried to sit up, but his arms didn't seem to be working right. _"Fuck, what did you do to me?" _he roared after the houshi. However, instead of hearing his own voice echoing back to him from the surrounding trees, there came the sound of a dog's bark.

_'Oh, fuck no...not this...' _The hanyou tried to shout again. It came out of his mouth as a sharp bark.

_'Oh, shitshitshitshitshit!' _He couldn't believe it. The _nerve..._the sheer _nerve _of that fucking houshi! InuYasha could only hope that he was either: one, dreaming, or two, just in a trance that would break shortly.

He tried to get up again, but fell back onto his hands. _'Fuck no...' _he thought again. Slowly, unwillingly, he looked down.

Two silvery-white paws rested on the bracken-strewn ground beneath him.

The hanyou twitched his left hand.

The paw on the left moved.

He lifted his hand off the ground.

The paw lifted off of the ground.

_'Oh, when I get my hands on that houshi, he's gonna wish he hadn't been born!' _the hanyou shouted in his head.

InuYasha couldn't believe that this had happened to him because of a stupid dokko and one stupid houshi's temper. How the _fuck _could this have happened to him?

Why in the name of the seven hells was he now a _dog?_

* * *

_Update 01/12/2012: In celebration of _Tall Tails _and _A Picture is Worth One Thousand Words' _anniversaries, I am doing some heavy editing and fixing mistakes that I have noticed over the months. Thank you for continuously loving these pieces for a full year; I greatly appreciate it!_


	2. Learning to Adjust

InuYasha had always wondered what Kagome meant when she said that she felt like her legs were full of pins and needles. Now he knew, for his entire being had an unpleasant tingling sensation as his new body slowly accustomed to the world around him. The hanyou kept hoping that he was dreaming, a hope that was slowly growing fainter and fainter as his vision grew clearer and clearer.

Slowly, oh so slowly he got up, making sure he got up on all fours rather than trying to push himself to what was now his hind feet. Muttering dire threats to the houshi who had done this to him, he steadied himself as he slowly got used to standing on four paws. '_I am gonna kill that son of a bitch if it's the last thing I do,' _InuYasha grumbled to himself as he started to walk to where the boar had fallen. Unfortunately, he fell over before he even got three steps closer to the meat. InuYasha did sometimes run on all fours, but he'd always had the choice to get up and run like a person again. Now, however, he'd tried to walk with all four legs at the same time and had ended up on the ground, his chest heaving and his legs tangled.

'_Stupid fuckin' houshi,' _he growled to himself as he rolled over, cursing the houshi and all who would follow him to an early grave. At least Shippou wasn't here, or the kitsune would probably laugh himself hoarse at the sight of InuYasha falling in an ungainly heap. Slowly, he pushed himself to his feet again. _'Okay, go slow,' _he thought, mentally wincing at the words. InuYasha never liked slow.

Carefully, as if it would blow up upon contact with the ground, he lifted one large silver paw and placed it on the ground a ways away from where it had been before. He wobbled a little, but at least he didn't fall over again. '_How the fuck am I supposed to continue?' _InuYasha wondered. He'd never paid much attention to how animals moved before, mainly because he'd always been too busy looking out for his own hide to be much of an observer of nature. However, he did vaguely remember how Kirara walked when she wasn't on Sango's shoulder, so he lifted the hind-paw opposite of his first paw and also placed it on the ground a ways from where it had been.

Soon, the hanyou was able to walk around almost normally, the pattern of left-right, right-left becoming easier and easier as more time went by. Pleased with himself, the hanyou sat on his haunches and scratched himself behind his ear (one of the only things on his body that hadn't changed very much from the feel of it). It wasn't too bad, actually, and he didn't feel _too _different. Sure, his vision was a little dimmer than normal, and he was still trying to get used to the four legs and paws thing, and he didn't have his youkai powers-

"_Wait a second," _InuYasha muttered as his thoughts screeched to a halt. His youkai powers were _gone. _Just _gone, _like they were when he was a human on the night of the new moon. Had they gone dormant? Then he recalled the houshi's words before he left.

"_I merely transformed your body into something less harmful, rather than slaying you outright."_

So _that _was what the houshi had meant. A dog, even a big dog, was still a _dog _in all regards, and without proper training (Kagome had told him) would be subdued without much harm to people. '_Stupid houshi,' _he cursed again. Not only did he have to suffer the humiliation of being turned into a _dog,_ of all things, but he'd been _stripped _of his powers? _'Kami damn that bastard to the deepest depths of hell!' _he cursed.

InuYasha walked over to where the dead boar had fallen. Since he now had no hands to hold the boar, he seized the meat by the scruff of its neck with his teeth and hefted it. It was easy to lift, but it was a lot heavier than he remembered it being. _'Great, now I'm a fuckin' weakling, on top of everything else,' _the hanyou grumbled to himself as he lifted the boar off of the ground and began to carry it back to the camp. His nose was as sharp as ever-sharper, maybe-and he could smell the campfire that the others had set up before he'd left on his now ill-fated hunting trip.

"InuYasha?"

One of his ears flicked at the sound of his name. _'Kagome?' _he wondered, even as he began running towards the sound of her voice. If Kagome was looking for him in the forest, how long had he been out of it? Now that he wondered, he looked at the sky, only to see that it was a dull gray color. _'Is it cloudy out, or something?' _However, as InuYasha continued to look around, he saw that all the trees looked gray, and all of the grass looked gray, and even the flowers were a dull gray color. _'What the fuck?' _he wondered. Then he remembered Kagome talking about something she'd learned in her 'si-unce' class. Something about how her teacher had taught them about some animals couldn't see specific colors...

_'Dammit all to Hell and back!' _he shouted in his head, a snarl gripping his mouth as his hackles raised. _'I'm fuckin' colorblind! If I ever see that fuckin' houshi again, I'll show him the meaning of pain...just wait 'n' see...' _

Something crashed through the bushes at that very moment, breaking InuYasha out of his violent thoughts and back into the present. He tensed, ready to fight with...well, with whatever he had.

"Oh!"

Kagome looked down at him, her face curious. InuYasha blinked back. _"Kagome? What the fuck are you doing out here?" _he asked, his words coming out as a muffled sort of grunt. Kagome squatted down in front of him, looking directly into his eyes. A few seconds passed before-

"Oh, kawaii!" she squealed, and flung her arms around his furry shoulders. InuYasha blinked again, his mouth flopping open and depositing the dead boar on the ground at Kagome's feet. Why was she _hugging _him? If she followed the evidence of her eyes, she would see that he was a wild animal capable of killing a fully-grown boar. So, by all accounts, she should be running away in terror, not hugging him and calling him _cute, _of all things.

_"Damn, no wonder you always get into trouble," _he told her, even though he'd figured out by now that his voice was pretty much gone.

Kagome drew back and tapped his nose, a huge smile on her face. "Do you want to come back with me, kawaii inu? I'm sure the others won't mind you if you're a good dog, and besides..." Kagome's smile slipped as she gazed off into the distance, her face now worried. "Maybe you can help us find InuYasha."

_"Uh, hello? I'm fuckin' HERE right now, wench!" _he shouted. A loud bark exited his muzzle for all of his efforts.

Kagome looked at him and managed a small smile. "So does that mean you want to come with me?"

_"Fuck yeah, since you'll probably get yourself killed otherwise," _InuYasha grumbled as Kagome turned around and began walking back towards the campsite. He was hot on her heels in a moment, plucking the boar off of the ground as he followed her. Traveling with Kagome gave the hanyou some inkling of his size: he was a rather big dog, reaching up to Kagome's waist in height. That cheered him up slightly-at least he wasn't one of those tiny yapping..._things _he often saw in Kagome's homeland. It was nice to know that he was more or less the same size as before.

As Kagome walked through the woods, she passed a small stream that ran parallel to her current path. InuYasha decided to stop and see what the damage was, so he dropped the boar with a _plumph _on the ground and walked over to the stream, curious and yet still apprehensive at the same time. Slowly, he peeked over the edge of the stream's bank. A silvery-white, wolf-like dog peeked back at him. The hanyou's first thought was that he looked rather like Sesshoumaru in his true form, except without stripes, red eyes or acidic saliva. As he'd first thought, his ears had remained exactly the same as they had been before. Looking behind him, InuYasha could see a long, lithe white body, ending with a medium-sized fluffy white tail.

_'I...guess this ain't that bad,' _he thought begrudgingly. At least he wasn't something completely useless, like a slug or a lizard. Shrugging his furry shoulders, the hanyou stooped and picked up the boar again, following after Kagome's scent and heading back towards camp.

_'Hopefully, someone will be able to take this fuckin' spell off me. Then I can be normal again.'_


	3. Back at the Camp

Kagome entered the camp slowly, making sure that nothing got snagged on the thorny bushes that surrounded the small clearing. Behind her, she could hear the sound of heavy paws on bracken, telling her that the silvery-white dog was still following her. _'Poor thing,' _she thought sympathetically. _'I'll bet it was either abandoned or its family died. There's **no way** a wild __dog could have such intelligent eyes. It **has** to have been someone's pet.' _As she thought, the dog in question leaped over the bushes and landed awkwardly on all four paws, the boar swinging limply from its mouth as it turned to look at her. Its eyes, which were a pretty shade of gold, seemed to be analyzing her.

"You can come here, you know," she told it. "I won't hurt you. And I can cook that boar, if you'd like." The dog seemed to raise an eyebrow at her, but it dropped the boar at her feet and fell to the ground, resting its head on its paws as it watched her.

If InuYasha hadn't been angry at the houshi, he probably would've let out a bark of laughter at Kagome's behavior. _'Damn, K'gome, I never knew that you liked talking to animals! You baka,' _he thought, although he was rather pleased that she had at least accepted him, instead of screaming and running away from him. Now if the others accepted him like this...

_'It's a start, at least,' _he thought glumly. _'Still doesn't change the fact that I'm a fuckin' __**dog**__, though.' _

The smell of blood and guts assaulted his senses, making InuYasha's head jerk up off of his paws and whip about, searching for the smell. It turned out to be Kagome gutting the boar, her face scrunched up in disgust, but her hands steady as she slowly removed the parts of the boar that couldn't be eaten.

If she had looked behind her, she would have seen a large silver dog staring at her, jaw lolling open in disbelief. Whenever InuYasha brought a kill in for their consumption, Kagome had always squealed and refused to look at it, saying that she wouldn't eat something if she knew where it had come from. Now, however, she seemed to be doing just fine with the boar.

_'Since when did Kagome start cleaning the kills?' _he wondered, managing to close his mouth and lay back down before Kagome could have the chance to see his disbelief. Then a new thought came to his mind. Since Kagome thought he was a dog, she wouldn't object to taking him anywhere where InuYasha wasn't allowed to go-as himself, that was. Maybe _now _he would be able to see that which Kagome kept hidden from him all the time.

Feeling a little more elated than he had been earlier, InuYasha got up and strode over to where Kagome was sitting. The miko was now stringing bits of meat onto sticks and placing them around the fire to cook. The meat that was already cooking smelled good, and the hanyou was having a hard time keeping away from it, but he didn't think Kagome would be too happy with him if he started scarfing down the meat right then and there.

Kagome looked back and saw him standing there, his head cocked as his pink tongue lolled out of his muzzle. She gave him a smile and lifted her hand up, moving to rub his ears. InuYasha's first reaction was to jerk back and maybe growl a little, but then he paused. If Kagome thought he was hostile, she might make him leave, or worse assume he was some sort of youkai and try kill him. So instead, the hanyou resigned himself to having his ears rubbed.

However, it wasn't nearly as bad as he thought it would be. In fact, it was acutally quite nice. Kagome's hands were gentle as her fingers made small circles on his delicate appendages. The hanyou's eyes slowly drooped shut as he involuntarily leaned into her touch. He heard Kagome giggling softly as her thumbs moved to caress the fur in between his eyes. The result was a feeling so soothing that the hanyou almost found himself going to sleep because of her soft touch.

The crashing foliage soon put an end to that dream, though. InuYasha's head whipped up as the noise got louder and closer. Kagome stroked his back soothingly as she said, "Don't worry, it's only Miroku-sama and Sango-chan. Hopefully, they found InuYasha, too." Kagome's voice lifted slightly as she spoke, reflecting the hope she felt, as well as the worry.

_"Not fuckin' likely," _InuYasha snorted. How could they find him when he was already here?

Sure enough, the bushes parted to reveal Miroku and Sango, as well as Shippou and Kirara. Kagome looked up at them, the smile on her face shifting to a look of disappointment when she saw that no hanyou was accompanying them. "Did...were you unable to find InuYasha?" she asked, her voice rather small.

"Unfortunately, no." Miroku's amethyst eyes were grave as he delivered his report. "We've been looking around the surrounding area, but according to Shippou, his scent vanished in a clearing. It could be that he started traveling in the treetops, but I don't know why he would've ventured so far away from camp."

Sango nodded in agreement. "I know. Usually, he likes to stay close enough to know that you're safe, Kagome."

InuYasha looked at his friends and gave a small snort. _"At least they're not reading the worst into me bein' gone yet," _he consoled himself, his voice coming out as a small grunt. At the sound of the grunt, both Miroku and Sango looked down at the silver-white dog on the ground.

"Kagome-chan, what's this dog doing here?" Sango asked warily, one hand straying to her Hiraikotsu.

Miroku stayed Sango's hand. "Not to fear, my dear Sango," he told her, "That dog is not a youkai." He turned his eyes back to Kagome as he asked, "Still, what _is _it doing here, Kagome-sama?"

Kagome absently reached out a hand and began twining her fingers in the fur on InuYasha's back. "I found him in the forest," she said. "He'd caught a boar, and...and he just looked so upset and alone, I _had _to take care of him. Plus," she giggled as she buried her face in his fur, "he's just so cute and soft!"

If InuYasha had been normal at that moment, his face would be a bright enough shade of red to make his haori look like a gray cloud in comparison. _"Wha-what the fuck are you doing, Kagome?" _he wanted to shout, but all that came out of his muzzle were a series of small whines. Kagome lifted her face from his fur and started scratching his ears again.

"Sorry," she whispered, "I didn't mean to scare you."

Miroku and Sango just looked at each other, obviously thinking about what they were seeing and what it meant for the group. "Uh...Kagome-chan, you do realize that if we let that dog come with us, we're going to have to take care of him, right?" Sango asked slowly. It was clear from her voice that she disapproved of the furry animal lying in front of her.

Kagome frowned as she looked down at InuYasha. "I guess so...but I don't want to leave him out here in the wild, all alone with no-one to help him or love him," she said softly. Her hand stroked his ears gently as she gazed sadly down at him.

_'Oh, shit,' _the hanyou thought. If Miroku and Sango decided that he wasn't necessary to the team, they might convince Kagome that they had to leave him behind somewhere, and _then _where would he be? He wasn't sure of how fast he could move yet, not to mention the fact that Kirara could fly very far while carrying all three humans (plus Shippou) on her back. Chances were, if he got left behind, InuYasha would most likely spend the rest of his days fetching sticks and balls while enduring the tortures the village children would make him undergo. InuYasha shuddered at the mental imagery. _'Not fuckin' likely. I do __**not **__want to live out my life like __**that**__...'_ he thought bitterly.

The only way the hanyou could think of to make Miroku and Sango not see him as useless was to try and hunt as often as he could. Of course, he could also allow himself to be Kagome's 'pet' of sorts, since Kagome could usually get her way when no-one else could. The miko from the Heisei jidai was one tough little bitch, after all.

"I think we should let him stay," Shippou piped up, his poofy tail twitching eagerly as he leaped down from his perch on Miroku's shoulder. In two bounding leaps, the kitsune arrived on top of InuYasha's head, looking directly into his golden eyes. "I've always wanted a dog to play with." The kitsune used his tiny foot-paw to prod at the back of the hanyou's furry head, his tiny claws digging into his pristine white fur.

"Are you sure you want to play with him, Shippou?" Kagome asked. "I mean, he is a hunting dog, after all. He's probably really strong."

_"Damn right I'm strong," _InuYasha bragged proudly, the furry tail resting on the ground starting to wag with pleasure. The hanyou always liked it when Kagome said nice things about him. (Especially when those things _didn't _include an 'osuwari' at the end of the sentence.)

"I can always outwit him," Shippou replied, his emerald eyes glinting with insolent amusement. "After all, dogs aren't exactly the smartest animals around. InuYasha's living proof of _that."_

InuYasha's good mood burst like an overfull water balloon. _"What the fuckin' hell? Stop disrespecting me, fuckin' kitsune!" _The hanyou's voice came out as a deep growl as he glared over at Shippou. Shippou looked taken aback, his eyes wide with astonishment.

"I think he _understands _me!" the kitsune cried.

Sango shook her head as she crouched by the fire and started removing the by-now well cooked meat from around the fire. "No, Shippou, most animals can sense when you mean them harm by the tone of your voice."

"Plus, you _are _a kitsune. Dogs and kitsune don't get along very well, as you probably know," Miroku added as he crouched down by the fire as well, pretending to check on the cooking meat while his wandering hand slowly sneaked over to Sango's behind.

_"Fuckin' pervert," _InuYasha snorted. Well, nobody had thrown him out yet, so things were sort of looking up. However, InuYasha was still a dog, Miroku and Sango weren't sure of his usefulness, and Shippou thought he was a new plaything. Kagome liked him, but she didn't recognize him and treated him like...well, like a dog.

_'Fuckin' hell, I hope this spell thing isn't as permanent as that houshi seemed to think it was,' _InuYasha thought. His head flopped down upon his paws as Sango set some of the meat down in front of him. Kagome rubbed his ears in a reassuring manner, which was nice, but it wasn't helping to allieviate the tension roiling in the hanyou's body.

How long would it take his friends to realize that InuYasha and the dog were one and the same?

And if they didn't, what would they think of him?


	4. Yamainu

InuYasha awoke to the sound of a soft sniffling coming from somewhere next to him. Ears rising as his senses rocketed to full alert, the hanyou turned dog slowly edged forward, his ears twiddling madly as he creeped toward the source of the noise. It turned out to be Kagome. The miko was lying curled up in her sleeping bag, her side facing away from the fire as she wept quietly. InuYasha's ears flattened to his skull. _'Dammit,' _he thought, _'I fuckin' HATE it when Kagome cries.'_

However, in his current dog state, InuYasha might offer some sort of comfort to her, since he couldn't screw anything up and get an 'osuwari' by saying the wrong thing. _'I guess I should just wake her up, then,' _he thought cautiously. So InuYasha tip-pawed over to Kagome's sleeping bag and nudged her back with his nose.

Kagome rolled over with a sleepy exclamation of surprise. "Wha-oh, it's just you." Kagome paused in the act of 'greeting' him and tilted her head in confusion. "Y'know, I think we should give you a name. I don't want to call you 'you' all the time. I know from experience that it's pretty annoying to just be called 'you.'" InuYasha winced slightly at the not-so subtle reference to the beginning of their travels together. Kagome sat up and gently pulled him over so that his head and front paws rested in her lap. As she gently stroked his ears, Kagome thought about what to call the dog resting in her lap.

"How about...Shirubaa?" she asked.

InuYasha snorted. He wished Kagome could just figure out who he was, but while she was in the dark, he supposed that he would have to go by an alias. The name she'd said sounded pretty stupid, though, so he snorted his disapproval.

"Don't like that, huh?" Kagome asked quietly. Her hand moved to stroke the thick fur that covered the scruff of his neck, her index finger gently scratching behind his left ear. "Hmm...how about...Tsuwabuki?" she suggested.

InuYasha snorted once more. Couldn't Kagome come up with something that sounded..._cooler? _Or, at least, more like his actual name...

"Didn't like that either?" Kagome's brow furrowed in thought as her mind cast around for a name. "Yamainu?"

InuYasha mulled it over for a minute. The name sounded more like his true name, plus it described his nature perfectly. _"Yeah, I guess that'll work," _he said. The words came out as a small whine.

Kagome smiled down at him. InuYasha noticed that it wasn't her usual radiant smile, but the more forced smile she wore when she was upset. "I'm glad you like that one, Yamainu. It's nice to be able to call you something other than 'you,' isn't it?"

InuYasha cocked his head at her. He'd never noticed how..._fake _her smile seemed when she was upset. _"Kagome, can you tell me why the fuck you're upset?" _he asked. Another small whine came out of his mouth.

Kagome's smile faltered as more tears started in her eyes. "I...I suppose you're...you're wondering why I smell like tears, huh?" InuYasha nudged the hand resting on her lap with his nose to tell Kagome to continue with her explanation. Kagome looked at him for a few seconds, then, she gave a small sob as she buried her face in his fur.

"It's...it's just...I'm so worried..." she whimpered. "I'm so worried about InuYasha. He's never been gone this long without telling us why he left. I know something's happened...I just don't know what it is."

InuYasha tried to comfort the crying miko while attempting to hide his disbelief. _'I never would've thought that Kagome got so worried about me when I was gone,' _he thought. Meanwhile, Kagome was still crying into his furry shoulder. So, InuYasha started doing what every self-respecting dog would do when someone started crying on their shoulder: he started licking the tears off of her face.

Kagome's sobs slowly died away as the hanyou's floppy pink tongue continued to lap sloppily at her cheek. Eventually, Kagome giggled weakly and pushed his muzzle away. "That's enough, Yamainu. I think I'm done now. Thank you." Kagome's smile was watery, but it was more natural than the grimace that she'd given him before. "I...I think I'll try to sleep now. Who knows, maybe InuYasha will be back tomorrow."

InuYasha snorted again and began to back away. Kagome grabbed his paws, making him look up into her tear-filled brown eyes. "Can you please sleep with me tonight, Yamainu?" she asked. "I...I get really lonely when InuYasha isn't here to...well, watch over me, and I...it's hard for me to sleep when he's gone." A blush covered her cheeks as the last part of her sentence sneaked past her lips in a soft whisper.

InuYasha blinked up at her, his jaw gaping slightly as he took in what she said. Kagome..._liked _it when he watched over her? She couldn't _sleep _when he wasn't there? Dammit, why had he never realized this? _'Damn, it's only been five fuckin' minutes and I've learned more about Kagome than I learned in two fuckin' years!'_

But Kagome was looking down at him, her eyes still teary as she waited for him to do something. Slowly, the hanyou crept up and laid his large furry body alongside Kagome's, head resting on his paws as Kagome burrowed down in her sleeping bag, one hand reaching out to tangle in his fur as she closed her eyes and gradually went back to sleep. InuYasha stayed awake, his eyes fixed on the glowing coals of the fire as thoughts chased their tails in his head, which was unusual for the hanyou: he wasn't the 'mull things over' type.

The predominant thought was that InuYasha had done two things tonight that he had never done before. One was that he'd managed to stop Kagome's tears without getting an 'osuwari.' That was an unprecedented success, all things considered. The other thing was the fact that he'd finally satisfied his curiosity over what Kagome's scent might possibly taste like when he licked her cheek. The miko from the future tasted just as good as she smelled, and it was hard to stop once he'd started licking. This fact made the hanyou tremble in his furry boots just _thinking _about it.

_'Never...' _he thought as he looked up at the sky, _'I would never have guessed that she tasted that nice.'_

However, that thought brought _another_ thought to mind: what Kagome would do when she found out that _InuYasha _was the dog. Sure, sleeping beside her wasn't that big of a deal; after all, the hanyou did it all the time, and Kagome had confessed to _liking _it. The licking thing, on the other hand, was a whole different kettle of fish. InuYasha had no doubt in his mind that if he'd licked Kagome's cheek in his natural form, Kagome would have told him 'osuwari' so many times that the hanyou would be on the other side of the world by the time her voice gave out. Now that he thought about it, Sango would probably hit him too, seeing as she agreed with Kagome about a lot of his 'flaws.' Miroku, however, would praise him for his 'courageous act' and give him that smile that made his eyes sparkle with perverted light.

InuYasha snorted, although this was a more halfhearted snort. _'I don't want Kagome to think of me as the same sort of man as that hentai houshi.'_

_'I s'pose...it's better if she doesn't know who I am for now.'_

* * *

The morning came in a fantastic display of of red, pink, gold and orange light as the sun slowly peeked over the Eastern horizon, spearing the clouds with wonderful rays of sparkling light. Sadly, the mood in the camp did not match that of the surrounding beauty. The humans had awoken to see that InuYasha still hadn't returned to the rest of the group. The hopefulness that had filled the air at the moment of their awakening had been quickly replaced by a more dejected atmosphere when they realized the hanyou was still 'missing.'

Miroku and Sango set about clearing up the camp, neither of them looking at Kagome. They knew what they would see. Kagome loved InuYasha, no matter how hard she tried to hide the strength of her devotion to him. The thought that he had gone somewhere without telling Kagome where he was going would undoubtedly cause Kagome great upset.

Shippou crept up to the pink bag that Kagome slept in, his eyes slightly wary as he took in the way Kagome sat: knees folded to her chest, chin resting on her knees, eyes focused on something the others could not see as she stared out into the misty distance. It was only when Shippou stepped on something soft that he realized that Kagome was not alone. The great silvery-white dog was resting next to Kagome, sleeping up until the moment when Shippou stepped on his tail. The dog opened one golden eye and glared at the kitsune, telling him without words that stepping on his tail was a big mistake.

Shippou shivered. He had been the recipient of that glare so many times that he'd lost count, and when InuYasha gave it to him, the kitsune knew that pain was soon to follow. "I'm not scared of you," Shippou squeaked, sounding about as convincing as a frightened rabbit. The dog snorted and turned away, nudging Kagome's ankle as he did so. Kagome gave a small start and looked down.

"Yamainu, what-oh. Hey, Shippou-chan." Kagome's smile was as weak as sunlight in a snowstorm, and it soon slipped away as Kagome turned back and stared into the forest.

"Who's 'Yamainu?'" Shippou asked, brow furrowing as he contemplated the name.

Kagome patted the dog's head. "That's what I decided to call this guy. I didn't want to call him 'you' all the time."

Shippou stuck his tongue out at the dog. "You should have called him Baka! I think _that _would suit him better."

InuYasha raised his head and growled at the kitsune. _"I'm warning you, Shippou," _he growled, _"Don't try to piss me off right now."_

Shippou stuck out his tongue again, apparently over the fact that InuYasha was currently a 'wild dog,' and would most likely rip off his head if he pissed him off. "Baka, baka, baka, baka," Shippou chanted, jumping from paw to paw as he stuck his hands in his mouth and pulled out his cheeks, making a grotesque face at InuYasha as he mocked him.

_"That does it!" _InuYasha swiped out at the kitsune, claws outstretched as his paw whistled through the air. Shippou barely managed to dodge in time, squeaking in fear as the deadly claws landed with a small _thunk _in the grassy ground where the kitsune had just been standing. InuYasha was satisfied to learn that he still had claws in his dog-form. Maybe he had less control over them, and maybe they couldn't cut through most of the things they used to be able to, but he had claws. That cheered him up considerably.

His good mood was almost instantly gone when he realized that Kagome had done next to nothing to stop Shippou teasing him, or to stop him from tearing Shippou apart. _"Kagome, are you all right?" _he asked, but of course the words came out as a small bark and a whine. Kagome looked down at him, her eyes almost unseeing.

"InuYasha hasn't come back yet, Yamainu," she told him. "He's been gone all night and I don't have any idea where he might be." Kagome's eyes filled with tears as she leaned down and wrapped her arms around his furry shoulders. "Oh, Yama," she whimpered, "What if something's happened to him and he's hurt out there? Or...or worse, he...he went...went after _her?_" Kagome's voice became more hysterical with every word, and she practically screamed, "_What if I've lost him forever?_" With that, Kagome started sobbing into InuYasha's shoulder, her hands tangling in his silver fur.

_"Kagome," _InuYasha whined, ears flattening against his head as he nuzzled her cheek and neck, _"I'm right here! Don't you know by now that I would never leave you without telling you where I'm going?" _Carefully, the hanyou lifted one large paw and placed it on Kagome's leg; the only way he could hold her close in his current form. They sat like that for a long time, the miko clinging to the hanyou in dog's clothing as she wept into his shining fur.

InuYasha felt horrible. How could Kagome think so poorly of him? Then again, he had given her plenty of reasons to think of him the way she did. After all, he hadn't exactly been the most chivalrous of men when they'd first met, and he had only improved by the smallest of margins in the two years they'd known each other. All he could do now while in the form of a dog was to offer her comfort. It wasn't the comfort she needed, but at that moment, he had to make do with what he had.

_"I'll try and fix things when I'm normal again, Kagome," _InuYasha stated, directing his unheard voice to the miko who was crying into his fur. _"I promise I'll try to make things better."_

* * *

Not too long after that, the group started out on their journey. Miroku and Sango had managed to convince Kagome that InuYasha would be able to follow their scent when he decided to come back. Kagome had been very reluctant, but had agreed to go. InuYasha (or 'Yamainu' as they were now calling him) was slightly annoyed that Miroku and Sango had been so quick to leave him behind, even if he was actually with them. What bothered him the most, though, was the fact that the taijiya and houshi hadn't even seemed to consider Kagome's feelings in the matter, practically arm-wrestling her into leaving when she wanted to wait for him. But since InuYasha was a dog, he had no say in the matter, so he could only watch and maybe growl a little as they packed up their things and left the campsite.

Kagome rode with Sango upon Kirara, while Miroku ran on the ground, Shippou perched on his shoulder. InuYasha didn't care if they left him in the dust, he'd be damned before he let anyone carry him, especially the hentai houshi. Fortunately, he was just as fast as ever, outstripping Miroku easily as he darted to the forefront of the group, tail whipping out behind him as his tongue flopped out of his mouth. At least running was still as enjoyable as it had always been.

"Wow, your dog moves really fast," Sango commented as she watched the large white dog leap over a particularly large rock, using the gray boulder as a springboard as he launched himself further, his front paws outstretched as he propelled himself faster.

"He's not _my _dog," Kagome contradicted. "Yamainu belongs to nobody but himself. I think he just likes me."

Sango didn't comment. She watched the dog run through the lands, steadily going faster and faster as he jumped and wove around the obstacles in his path. Sango had seen how Kagome had wept into the dog's fur, and how he had growled when she and Miroku had told them that they needed to move on and start looking for more shards of the Shikon-no-Tama. _'I think that dog doesn't just like you, Kagome-chan,' _Sango thought. Her brow furrowed slightly as she thought about InuYasha's strange disappearance and Yamainu's equally strange appearance. _'I wonder...'_

* * *

yamainu-wild dog

shirubaa-silver

tsuwabuki-silver leaf


	5. The Neko Talks

After a few hours of travel, InuYasha and the others arrived at a village. Kirara landed on the ground and transformed back into her tiny form, leaping up on Sango's shoulder as she and Kagome waited for Miroku to arrive. InuYasha hobbled over to Kagome, his tongue flopping out of his mouth as his flanks heaved with exertion. _'Damn...I haven't been this fuckin' tired in ages,' _he thought as he leaned against Kagome's leg for support. Kagome's hand started stroking his ears, which helped him to calm down and relax. He growled slightly as he leaned into her gentle touch. InuYasha didn't want to admit it, but he rather liked it when Kagome scratched his ears.

Five minutes later, amidst a bout of wheezing and puffing, Miroku appeared, clutching a stitch in his side as he hobbled toward the group. "I...am not used...to running for that long," he wheezed. "I hope...InuYasha...comes back soon."

InuYasha felt Kagome stiffen, her fingers freezing on his ears. _"Good job, Miroku," _InuYasha growled sarcastically. Miroku looked at him, his brow furrowing.

"Do you need to rest, houshi-sama?" Sango asked worriedly. "I'm sure there's a rest-house or something in this village."

Miroku smiled at her, his breathing evening as he wandered over to her. "I am glad that you're worried about me, Sango," he intoned, his amethyst eyes gleaming. Sango blushed slightly and turned her face away.

_'Three...two...one...' _InuYasha counted down, waiting for the obvious to happen. Sure enough, the moment InuYasha thought, _'Zero,' _Miroku's cursed hand sneaked over and started rubbing Sango's behind.

"HENTAI!" Sango shouted, whirling about in a blaze of color as she smacked Miroku with enough force to make his neck pop. Kagome sighed and Shippou laughed.

_"Fool."_

InuYasha's head whipped around. A new voice had spoken, but he didn't know where it had come from. InuYasha thought about it for a few seconds, then shrugged and looked back at Miroku, who was laughing nervously while his cursed hand ruefully rubbed the bright red slap-mark on his cheek. InuYasha snorted. _"Houshi'll never learn," _he scoffed.

"C'mon guys," Kagome said tiredly, "let's go look for an inn, or a rest-house, or something." She turned on her heel and began to walk into the village. InuYasha padded after her, his paws crunching on the dirt road.

The village was an unusually large one with plenty of merchants and rest-houses scattered about the many houses of the farmers who made their living off of the land. InuYasha couldn't help but to sniff at all of the new smells. That was something that hadn't changed much, but in his dog-form it made Kagome laugh to see him with his nose in a patch of dirt.

"Huh?" Shippou, who had been riding on Kagome's shoulder, suddenly jerked upright, his tiny head looking to the left as his nose twitched.

"What is it, Shippou-chan?" Kagome asked, also looking to the left.

"That guy over there just gave me a really creepy look," Shippou said, shivering slightly.

InuYasha yawned uninterestedly. _"Maybe it was the giant fluffy tail on your ass," _he snorted. Behind him, he heard Miroku and Sango stop in their tracks as they also looked at the person who'd glared at Shippou.

"Looks like some sort of houshi," Sango observed.

InuYasha's ears stood up straight on his head. He whipped about and saw-

A haze dropped over his colorless vision.

It was _him. _The houshi who had put the spell on him-the houshi who had turned him into an animal!

Without thinking, InuYasha sprang forward, barking madly as he shouted abuse at the houshi. _"You bastard! PREPARE TO DIE!"_

The houshi, sensing malice, turned to see the large white dog bounding toward him, fangs bared and claws outstretched. The houshi raised his arms to cover his face, then InuYasha was upon him. Forgetting his own personal rules about baring his fangs against humans, he tore at the houshi's robes, determined to make the houshi feel physically what he had been feeling emotionally.

Several hands fisted in his fur and began yanking him backwards. "Yamainu!" Kagome cried as she and Sango slowly dragged the dog off of the houshi's trembling form. "Bad dog! How dare you attack a poor houshi!"

"Damn, he's a strong one," Sango grunted as she moved forth and pryed open the hanyou's jaws, releasing the houshi's arm from its fanged prison. The houshi sat up, glaring daggers at the transformed inu-hanyou, who growled back at him, his golden eyes filled with rage.

"Can't you at least _try _to control that monster?" the houshi snapped, straightening his torn robes about his body. "I was nearly killed by that thing!"

"I'm so sorry, sir," Kagome said, stroking InuYasha's ears carefully with one hand while keeping the other clenched in his fur. "I...he's usually really well behaved. I don't know what would have set him off so easily."

The houshi glared down at InuYasha, who glared back. "Just keep that beast under control." With a small huff, the houshi turned on his heel and stalked away.

"Jeez, what a creep," Shippou whispered. "I guess he's one of those youkai haters."

"Are you young'uns all right?" The three of them turned to see an old farmer standing a short distance away, his gnarled hands resting on the handle of his hoe as his rheumy eyes looked kindly upon the two women, the kitsune and the still-growling dog. The farmer stepped closer, his eyes resting upon InuYasha.

"Did Tôjirô hurt you or your dog in any way?" he asked.

"Is Tôjirô that houshi we just saw?" Kagome asked. InuYasha's ears perked up a little.

"Yes. He is the last apprentice a great houshi in this area, one Chikanaka by name, ever took on." The old farmer settled himself more comfortably against the hoe and continued with the story. "Tôjirô soon proved himself to be more powerful than his master had ever been, so Chikanaka began to teach him the more difficult magics. He taught Tôjirô how to do things with his spiritual powers that most people couldn't even dream of. The most impressive of these magics was the power to transform youkai into regular animals!"

The girls gaped at him. "No way," Kagome whispered, "He can do that?"

InuYasha snorted. _"Yeah, I'm living proof of that fuckin' fact."_

The farmer nodded. "Aye. Chikanaka believed that to be a more merciful fate than exorcism. Tôjirô only uses it on youkai he can't exorcise, and I've known him to do it to some of the more wild hanyou as well."

Shippou looked in the direction that Tôjirô had gone, his eyes curious. "He seemed really on edge or something. Did Yamainu do something to offend him?"

The old farmer shook his head. "I don't think so. You see, one of the villagers thought they saw youkai in the forest, so they hired Tôjirô to exorcise them. Tôjirô was setting up a trap for any youkai who came his way, when lo and behold, one of them came along and destroyed his prize dokko! Tôjirô hasn't been the same since."

_"I just stepped on the damn thing!" _InuYasha growled.

"Yamainu!" Kagome scolded, thinking that he had purposefully growled at the farmer.

The farmer raised one of his hands to cut off any more of Kagome's scoldings. "It's all right. I can understand if he doesn't like Tôjirô. Most animals steer clear of him." With that, the farmer got up and started toward his field, waving creakily back at the taijiya, miko, kitsune, nekomata and inu.

"Well, that tells us why he was in such a bad mood," Sango stated. "I guess he's pretty upset over what happened to his dokko."

"I don't see why it's anything to fuss over," Shippou said. "It's just a dokko, isn't it?" InuYasha grunted his agreement.

"Maybe it was an heirloom. Imagine how angry InuYasha would be if someone broke his Tetsusaiga," Sango said.

InuYasha growled at the thought of something happening to Tetsusaiga (again). _'It ain't the same, though!' _he thought. _'My Tetsusaiga is **much** better than any dokko.'_

"Well, let's go see how Miroku's faring," Kagome said, and the women started to walk again. Kirara mewed and leaped off of Sango's shoulder and onto InuYasha's furry back. Sango knew that Kirara could look after herself, so she wasn't worried about the nekomata's abrupt dismount.

_"You break dokko?"_

InuYasha almost stumbled. That voice again! The one that had called Miroku a fool earlier. Where had it come from this time, and why didn't Kagome and Sango hear it too?

Kirara stepped out daintily onto InuYasha's muzzle. She sat down on the tip of his nose and looked him straight in the eye as she opened her mouth to meow. But instead of a meow, a small voice repeated the words, _"You break dokko?"_

InuYasha blinked at her, then said, _"Yeah."_

Kirara nodded. _"Thought so. InuYasha."_

InuYasha was stunned. Of all the things that had startled him when he'd discovered that he'd been transformed into a dog, this was the most surprising. Kirara could understand him, _and _she could talk to him as well? The dreamlike quality of his life seemed to be intensifying. But she _knew_ who he was.

_"You know who I am?" _he asked.

_"Same eyes. Same hair," _Kirara said. Then she seemed to laugh as she said, _"Same attitude."_

_"Yeah, whatever, can you tell Sango about me?" _

_"Don't know. Might not believe me. Hard to communicate with humans." _Kirara shook herself, her two tails flapping about slightly.

_"Tell me about it," _InuYasha grumbled.

Kagome looked back to see Kirara sitting on Yamainu's nose, the dog practically cross-eyed as he looked at her. She giggled, "I think Kirara's made a new friend."

Sango looked back as well, a small smile curving her lips. "If Kirara likes him...I guess he's a good dog."

InuYasha heard Sango and Kagome talking to each other and felt a little more hopeful than he had that morning. _'At least Kirara knows who I am. It's a small start, but at least I've made some fuckin' progress since yesterday,' _he thought. _'And, if they know that Kirara likes me, then it'll lessen the chances of them deciding to get rid of me, or something.' _He glanced up at the sky, wishing he could see the light blue he knew it must be. _'Still, I hope this 'dog' thing doesn't last forever.'_

_"Will help you," _Kirara mewed. _"Will help you find self."_


	6. Hot Spring Confessions

Once again, using one of his 'brilliantly' staged exorcisms, Miroku had managed to con one of the local innkeepers into giving them a room for the night and a hot meal for everybody present. Everybody, that was, except for the animals. (Namely, 'Yamainu' and Kirara.)

InuYasha wasn't used to having to gnaw bones before, but since the innkeepers and everyone else thought he was a dog, bones were all he got for dinner. The hanyou pulled a face at the bone he was currently gnawing at. _"Tastes like shit," _he complained.

_"No complain." _Kirara was sitting next to him, carefully polishing off a small fish that Sango had thoughtfully given her. _"Humans think it's good meal for dog."_

InuYasha snorted. _"Well, it's fuckin' nasty."_

Kirara seemed to laugh at him. _"Can't always get meat."_

InuYasha snorted again and nudged the bone away before he put his head on his paws. _'This whole "being a dog" shit is getting more fuckin' depressing by the day.'_

However, Kagome soon got his attention by putting her barely touched meal in front of him. "Here you go, Yamainu," she said. "You can have the rest of my dinner. I'm not that hungry anyway." She gave him a weak smile that didn't reach her eyes before she got up and left the room.

_"Something not right," _Kirara observed as she hopped up onto Sango's shoulder. _"Miko only not eat when she unhappy."_

_"Yeah," _InuYasha agreed. That was something he knew from before: when Kagome was upset, she tended to eat a lot less than she usually did. Looking down at the untouched rice and barely nibbled fish, however, InuYasha knew that her upset ran from a vein of darkness that had been simmering in her soul for nearly two years. That very morning Kagome had admitted that she was afraid; afraid that he had gone to Kikyou and would never come back. The others were thinking it too, although they kept quiet for Kagome's sake. InuYasha had thought that getting the truth about Tôjirô would lift the veil from their eyes, but of course it didn't. Humans needed a lot of evidence for them to believe what their feeble senses told them, and right now there was about as much evidence of Tôjirô putting a spell on InuYasha as there was of fish learning to fly.

_"Aw, fuck this," _he growled, then he fell upon Kagome's food like a plague, snapping up the fish and gobbling down the rice like a starved wolf. After he finished eating, he padded out of the room and followed Kagome's scent. It was easy, seeing as the hanyou always seemed to be hyper-sensitive when it came to Kagome. Her scent led InuYasha out of the inn and around the back. _'What the fuck is she __**doing **__out here?' _he grumbled to himself, his claws clicking on the stones that lined a pathway to a small copse of trees. _'Is...maybe she's trying to go home,' _he thought, and started to hurry, the clicking sound growing louder and faster as he hurried toward the trees.

_"Kagome!" _he cried, his voice a sharp bark as he tore through the bushes that lined the clearing.

The hanyou screeched to a stop, his jaw locked and his eyes bulging.

Kagome looked at him. "Yamainu? What's wrong?"

InuYasha remained frozen in place, unable to move due to the shock coursing through his body.

Since he wasn't normal at the moment, InuYasha hadn't paid any attention to the list of benefits that the innkeepers had given to Kagome, Miroku, Sango and Shippou. One of those benefits had been the fact that the inn was located close to a natural hot-spring, which the innkeepers had slightly altered to their benefit (though they didn't say _how_ it was altered.)

If there was one thing Kagome liked to do that she couldn't do too often in the Sengoku jidai, it was bathe. So when the opportunity came up, she would flounce off to the baths and happily dive in-which was what she had done tonight. So when InuYasha had darted through the bushes, Kagome had looked up from washing her hair and turned toward the source of the sound-allowing InuYasha to see Kagome in all her glory; so it was really no wonder that the poor hanyou was frozen solid.

Kagome moved through the steamy water and leaned over the edge, fixing InuYasha with a confused and worried stare. "What is it, Yamainu?"

InuYasha tried to focus on the words, but his brain seemed to be melting and trailing out of his ears. Sure, he'd seen Kagome without her clothes on often enough, but the hanyou usually only got a glimpse before he was slapped, punched or sat. But now he was a dog, and Kagome wouldn't get angry at a dog for peeping, now would she?

InuYasha quickly clamped a paw over his nose, trying to block the oncoming nosebleed as he tried to tear his eyes away from Kagome.

Kagome, meanwhile, was hoisting herself out of the bath and walking over to him, wrapping a towel around her waist as she did so. "Did you want to bathe with me, Yamainu?" she asked. Before InuYasha could respond, she eagerly seized his paws and dragged him toward the water. With a large _splosh _and a loud yelp, the silver dog fell tail over paws into the spring.

Kagome giggled as she slid back into the spring as well. "Oops-sorry, Yamainu. I didn't mean to throw you into the spring like that. Are you okay?"

_"Fuckin' hell, Kagome, you nearly drowned me!" _InuYasha spluttered, blowing water out of his mouth as he paddled furiously, trying to keep his head above the warm waters of the hot-spring. However, the water did shake him out of his lust-oriented stupor, at least for the moment.

Kagome's hands reached down from above and helped him toward a sort of shelf in the water, high enough in the water to allow InuYasha to lie down on it and keep his head above water, but low enough for the rest of his furry body to be submerged. _'I...guess this ain't so bad,' _he conceded, panting slightly as the heat of the springs started to seep through his fur.

"Okay, Yama, I'm going to start washing your fur now," Kagome announced, lifting a bottle of the 'bodywash' she used to wash herself with and starting to come toward him again. InuYasha flicked one furry ear in her direction, not trusting himself to look at her lest he fall into a stupor again. Then his brain processed what Kagome had said.

_"Wait one fuckin' minute!" _he yelped as he rocketed to his feet with a cascade of splashes, but Kagome had reached him and gently forced him to sit.

"C'mon, don't be like that. I'll bet you've never had a bath in your entire life. You'll like it, I promise," she soothed. InuYasha bristled slightly. He _did _take baths every once in a while, but not on a daily basis like Kagome liked to do. That didn't mean he didn't _ever _take baths.

Kagome put some of the soap in the palm of her hand and started to run her fingers through his fur. "Wow, your fur is so soft," she whispered as she started to scrub the hanyou's silver fur. "I"ll bet it'll be even softer once it's all clean."

InuYasha didn't answer; he was too busy concentrating on a small rock in front of him, and _not _on where Kagome's hands would be if he had been in his true form. However, the more naughty thoughts were like the inflatable tube that Kagome had bought for the kitsune; no matter how hard you pushed, it always managed to pop back up to the surface. It didn't help that Kagome's fingers were so gentle, either. If she had been scrubbing him like the village-women scrubbed their laundry, he wouldn't be having this problem. But the miko was being as gentle with him as if he were a newborn pup, hence the reason he was trying so hard to be interested in the rock.

_'I am not gonna get any sleep tonight,' _he thought.

Finally, after an eternity of the gentle torture, Kagome started to rinse him off with a small bucket that the innkeepers had provided for her bath items. When she was done with that, she surprised him by hoisting herself onto the shelf beside him, her back resting against the edge of the pool as she stared up at the sky above. "InuYasha," she sighed as her arms came up to wrap around her knees.

InuYasha's ears twitched at the sound of his true name. _'Is she thinking about me?' _he wondered. That would explain why she wanted to come out here by herself, and perhaps why she would want to give him a bath. If there was one thing InuYasha did understand, it was the need for a distraction when unpleasant thoughts were whirling in one's brain. _'I hope she hasn't thought any worse of me since this morning,' _he thought, and nudged her shoulder carefully with his nose, trying to tell her to continue.

Kagome looked at him, her eyes filled with that distant quality that told him her thoughts were a thousand miles away from the place where her body rested. "What is it, Yama?" she asked, her tone slightly distracted, matching her eyes perfectly.

_"C'mon, Kagome," _InuYasha whined, pushing at her hand with the tip of his nose, _"What's it gonna take for you to see that I'm right here?"_

Kagome's bottom lip trembled slightly at the sound of the hanyou's whines, and she vehemently scrubbed her hand across her eyes, trying hard to contain the hurt that welled up within her at the sad little sounds. "It's been two days," she finally managed to say. "Two days since InuYasha disappeared. I don't know where he's gone, Yamainu. He's never left without telling us that he was traveling alone for a little while." With a small sob, she turned to him and wrapped her arms around his soggy shoulders. "What if it was _me?" _she whispered. "What if _I _did something to chase him away?" InuYasha could feel the tears start to fall into his fur as she cried, "What if I'm the reason he won't come back?"

_"Aw, fuck no, stop that, Kagome," _InuYasha groaned, his ears flattening against the storm of self-loathing. He tried to raise a paw to place on her back, but the construction of his fore-limb made him have to compromise by putting his paw on her knee. _"You know me better than that," _he told her, even though he knew it was pointless. _"Even when you piss me off, I don't leave you...at least, not for days on end. __**You're **__the one who always runs away, remember?"_

Kagome sniffed again, her tears trailing down her face to be lost in the hanyou's wet fur as she held the dog close to her heart, trying to hold herself together while trying to get her sobs to subside. "Yama, I know you don't understand me, but I'm so grateful that you're willing to listen," she mumbled. "It's always better to try and get this sort of thing off of your chest than try to live with it hidden under a rock, you know?"

InuYasha snorted, a little insulted by Kagome's insinuation that he had no brains. _"I understand you just fine, wench," _he grumbled. _"But...I am glad that I'm able to help you...if only a little bit."_

Kagome tried hard to contain her tears, but the stirring tidal wave of upset stemmed from the dark vein of jealousy that had been spawned from two years of watching InuYasha and Kikyou, and it wasn't about to be stopped now that it had been untapped. "Everyone...everyone thinks InuYasha went to Kikyou," she gurgled as more tears forced their way out of her eyes. "I was hoping that he'd come back and prove them wrong, but...but he still hasn't come back. Yama, what if they're right? What if he really _has _gone after her? I know I've talked about this before, but..." Kagome cut herself off with a small sob, then continued on a different tangent. "She's so much stronger than I am, and she's proved it time and again. Not only that, she's so beautiful, and...and I'm _not._" Kagome seemed to have come to the end of her tears at last, but the flood of self-degrading remarks was still flowing freely. "InuYasha couldn't ever like someone like me, and why would he? He's so strong, and brave, handsome and clever in his own way." Kagome sighed, and InuYasha wondered if she would be able to see his bright crimson blush through his sodden fur. "What would he want with a weak, ugly, unreliable-"

_"ENOUGH!" _InuYasha's shout was projected as a loud bark that echoed off of the trees around them. Kagome jerked back in surprise, the water rushing up to cover her bare chest as the large dog on her lap snarled in her face, his own face enraged. _"Don't you ever talk about yourself like that again, Kagome,_" he growled, nuzzling her shoulder to tell her that he was still friendly, even while the fierce growl reverberated in his chest. _"You're not weak. You've lived through things that would have __**killed **__a lesser person." _He let the growl trail off into a sound like a purr as he rested his head on her shoulder. _"Not beautiful. Feh! Trust me, I've had the hardest time keeping my eyes off of you tonight, and that's the truth." _InuYasha reached over and lathed Kagome's wet cheek with his tongue like he had the night before. _"Don't ever presume that I don't like you, Kagome," _he told her. Maybe she couldn't hear the words, but he knew it would somehow get through to her.

Kagome laughed weakly and laced her fingers through his fur. "Thanks, Yamainu. I guess I needed that." She took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger. "It's just...InuYasha has been gone for an unusually long amount of time. It's hard to stay on the bright side when someone disappears unexpectedly." She shook her head, opened her eyes and started moving to the edge of the pool. "C'mon, Yamainu, I think it's time for us to get out," she called, climbing out of the hot-spring while fishing around for her towel.

InuYasha looked away until he heard Kagome's exclamation of triumph that told him she'd found her towel. _'Kagome already has enough reasons to kill me,' _he told himself grimly. When she had it wrapped about her once again, he paddled over to her, clambered out and promptly began shaking himself dry, drops of water launching themselves from every inch of soggy fur. "Yama!" Kagome laughed, hiding her face behind her arms as the hanyou finished shaking himself. _'Huh,' _he thought. Whenever he'd done that in his 'natural' form, Kagome would always shriek and yell at him to stop flinging water everywhere. Yet another thing that he'd always done that was different now that he was a dog.

Kagome ducked into a small hut that the innkeepers had set up, and emerged a few seconds later, dressed in a pair of her fleece pajamas, the bucket tucked under one arm while her other hand was clenched around the straps of her backpack. "Let's go back to the others, Yamainu," she said, giving him a more natural smile as she started toward the inn. InuYasha set after her, but was stopped when she abruptly halted. _"Kagome?" _he asked, head tilted slightly. What was wrong _now? _Kagome set her things on the ground and crouched down in front of him, her warm smile managing to turn his brains mushy again. _'Dammit, how does she do that?' _he wondered.

She placed her hands on either side of his furry muzzle and planted a small kiss on the tip of his black nose. "Thank you for coming after me," she murmured. Then she got up, picked up her things and headed off for the inn once more. InuYasha looked after her, his jaw agape, swerving slightly on his paws as his brain tried to focus on what had just happened. Then his tail started to wag madly behind him.

The hanyou didn't know why, but at that moment he felt like he could defeat Naraku and all his evil hoards with both hands tied behind his back.


	7. Ōkami Attack: The Spell Wavers

The morning dawned, gray and overcast, the clouds heavy with the threat of impending rain. Miroku looked out of the open shoji door and sighed. "It looks like it's going to rain today," he informed the rest of the group. Sango got up from where she had been sitting and went over to stand beside Miroku, but not before shifting her Hiraikotsu to her left shoulder to provide a barrier between her butt and the houshi's cursed hand.

"You're right," she agreed, "The clouds do look ominous today. I hope it won't interfere too much with our travels."

Shippou peeked his emerald eyes out from beneath the blanket under which he was huddling. "Do we have to go out in the rain?" he whined. "I don't like traveling in the cold and wet."

InuYasha looked at him, his eyes irritable as he snapped, _"Stop your fuckin' whining! D'you think the rest of us wanna travel in this weather?" _The hanyou was not in the best of moods that morning. All through the night his head had been filled with images of Kagome in the hot-spring and what she had said. Both factors had combined into a restlessness that had not allowed InuYasha to get any sleep.

Kagome reached down and gently rubbed the hanyou's ears. "Don't worry, Yamainu," she soothed, although the worry in her voice was rather off-setting. "I'm sure it won't rain too hard."

InuYasha snorted. _"I've never been afraid of fuckin' __**rain**__. I ain't a baby."_

Kagome smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes at all. InuYasha knew that she was thinking about him, and about the fact that he _still _wasn't 'back' yet. He nudged her hand with his nose, and she started scratching his ears again. _'Damn, I guess it's too much to hope that she finds this as comforting as I do,' _he thought as he resisted the urge to roll over on his back and show Kagome his belly. _That _would be an embarrassing thing to explain over when he was normal again. _'If I'm ever normal again,' _he thought wistfully as the innkeepers brought in breakfast; stewed meats and vegetables from the smell of it. Luckily for him, though, the innkeepers gave him some meat instead of a bone, which he gobbled down gratefully.

_"You still upset?" _InuYasha turned to see Kirara looking at him, her bright red eyes curious.

_"Fuck yeah. It's been nearly two days since I was turned into a dog, and there's no sign of a cure for me," _he replied, licking his chops as he rested his head on his paws and looked out into the rain. _"Not only that, but Kagome thinks I abandoned her for Kikyou, and I don't have the words to tell her otherwise."_

_"Write?" _Kirara asked, her tails waving as she leaped onto his shoulders and looked down into his eyes. InuYasha had to think for a bit before he could figure out what the nekomata meant.

_"No, I can't write. My mother taught me a little, but..." _the hanyou blushed beneath his fur as he admitted, _"I've forgotten how to do it."_

Kirara made a small growling noise in her throat, which he took to be the neko equivalent of a 'hmm.' Then, he felt her furry shoulders shrug a little. _"Then...I not know how help you," _she said, a touch of sadness in her voice. _"But...hope. Keep hope. Without hope, InuYasha become Yamainu for all time."_

InuYasha shuddered inwardly at the thought. He would rather climb up a mountain with boulders strapped to each and every one of his limbs, face a thousand youkai while in human form, be tied down in a field of rotten garlic with no nose-plug, than be a dog for the rest of his days. For starters, his life-span had been shortened by several hundred years. Kagome had once told him (while they were both in the Sengoku jidai) that the oldest dog in the world had lived to be twenty-one years old. _Twenty-one years. _InuYasha had lived for nearly ten times that long and had only aged about sixteen, maybe seventeen years. (Then again, the fifty years that he was bound to the tree probably didn't count.) But to face the prospect of only a few decades? Unthinkable!

Not only that, but InuYasha had no youkai power. How was he supposed to go through life as an ordinary dog? He couldn't just be Kagome's pet for the rest of his life (no matter how appealing the idea actually was, to be quite honest) and she was bound to catch onto him sooner or later. And what then? Would she forgive him for the scare he'd given her, or for the things he shouldn't have heard or seen?

_"You're right, Kirara," _he told the nekomata. _"I can't give up hope."_

_"Good," _she purred. _"That more like InuYasha we love."_

* * *

It rained for about an hour after that, and the group decided to stay inside while the rain splattered against the ground outside. Miroku wrote more ofuda while Sango sharpened her katana, occasionally glaring at the houshi to make sure he was still writing ofuda and not stalking her bottom. Shippou was coloring with the crayons Kagome had given him, his tongue poking out from between his teeth as he carefully penned himself out onto the paper. Kagome sat next to him, trying to study her mathematics, but failing when she glanced up every so often to gaze out at the rainy scenery beyond the shoji door and letting out a sigh when she caught no glance of scarlet and silver. InuYasha was sitting beside Kagome, peering over her shoulder to see if he could make head or tail of what she was studying. After reading the first equation, however, he quickly gave up and started pacing around the room, restless and edgy. Kirara decided to ride on his shoulders, providing someone to talk to, although their conversations were brief and repetitive.

_"You stop pacing. Will get on humans' nerves."_

_"I'm too fuckin' energized to stop pacing. Why don't you go bother Shippou or something?"_

In the end, Kagome put the math book away and picked up one of Shippou's toys, which appeared to be a wooden ball that had been painted bright red. "Yamainu," she called, "Fetch!" With a small heave, Kagome threw the ball to the corner of the room.

Instinct overwhelmed thought, sending InuYasha charging toward the red ball, tongue flopping out from between his teeth as he chased the ball, snapped it up, and returned to Kagome, his paws akimbo as he panted excitedly. Then, as Kagome pryed the ball out from between his teeth, InuYasha realized what he had done and felt completely embarrassed. It was rare for his inu instincts to get the better of him, but when they did, the results were often hilarious for the onlookers, but humiliating for the hanyou.

Kagome laughed, and her laugh was not high and false, like it usually was when she was on edge, but a true laugh of pure joy. "You liked that, huh, Yamainu?" she giggled as she rubbed his ears and neck.

_"...Yes," _InuYasha admitted, his tail retreating between his legs as his ears lowered in shame.

Kagome took note and fixed the hanyou with a worried stare. "Are you all right, Yamainu? Did I hurt you?"

_"Fuck no!" _InuYasha's head jerked up, his ears returning to normal as his tail resumed its wagging. _"I'm...fuck, I'm fine, all right? It's just that I let my fuckin' instincts get the better of me!"_

_"Cheered up miko, though," _Kirara pointed out as she wove herself between InuYasha's forepaws (she had been thrown off of his back when InuYasha started to chase the ball).

InuYasha brightened a little at this. _"Yeah, you have a point there." _So he decided to, at least for the time being, fuck his pride and cheer Kagome up. He stretched out his front paws and let his rump stay in the air, tail wagging madly as his tongue flopped out of his mouth. Kagome smiled at him and threw the ball again. He chased it again as instinct took over once more, tongue flying out of his mouth as he went for the ball. However, he couldn't find it. The inu part of him suffered severe disappointment at the loss of the plaything and drove him to start sniffing around the edge of the room, looking for the lost ball. Behind him, he could hear Kirara's mewing laughs.

_"What the fuck is so funny?" _he barked, turning back to fix the nekomata with a glare.

_"Miko not throw ball, baka inu!" _she laughed.

InuYasha's jaw flopped open in disbelief. In a few bounds, he was next to Kagome, who, now that he was looking at her, had one hand held behind her back. "You fell for it, Yamainu," she giggled, and held out the ball for his inspection.

_"Kami dammit," _he groaned as he sank to the floor, his paws covering his eyes as his ears were regaled with the resounding laughs from not only Kagome and Kirara, but Miroku, Sango, and Shippou as well, who had started watching him after Kagome had thrown the ball the first time.

"Hey, the rain stopped!" Shippou cried, jumping up as he pointed excitedly toward the shoji door. Indeed, the sun was shining brightly in a halfway cleared sky, the drops of rain on the grass and leaves outside glittering like diamonds in the golden light.

"I guess it's time for us to be going then," Miroku said as he picked up the stack of ofuda and tucked them into his robes. Everyone bustled to get their things together, checking and double-checking to make sure that they didn't leave anything behind.

InuYasha watched his friends hurrying about with a rather sour expression fixed on his furry face. _"Some friends. Laughing at my foolishness," _he grumbled.

Kirara looked down at him from her perch atop his head and mewed, _"Cheered up miko, though."_

InuYasha looked at Kagome, who did seem to be a little bit happier now than she did before. A goofy grin spread over his muzzle as he said, _"Yeah...I guess I did."_

_"Make it worth it?"_

_"...Yeah."_

* * *

It was not too long afterward that the group set out on the road again. This time, they had decided to walk rather than fly or run. The reason behind this decision was unspoken, but InuYasha knew that it was because they were still waiting for him to 'arrive,' and since the rain had washed all traces of their scent away, the group wanted to give InuYasha some way of finding them easily.

InuYasha's continued 'absence' was weighing heavily on Kagome. InuYasha saw that the little piece of happiness he'd given her by playing with the ball had gone away almost as soon as they'd started out on the road. She constantly looked over her shoulder, sighing when she realized that there was no hanyou following them. The distant look was back in her eyes, and InuYasha knew that Kagome was wondering if he'd gone to Kikyou. _"Dammit, how am I gonna convince her that I'm right here and I would never leave her without telling her first?" _he growled as his paws squished and slipped around in the squishy mud, which was not drying quite fast enough for his tastes.

_"Can't," _Kirara said, looking at him from her place on Miroku's shoulder, where she was currently resting. _"Can't convince miko until you return."_

_"But I can't 'return' until I get this fuckin' spell off of me!" _he snarled grumpily.

_"Exactly." _Kirara turned away at that moment, her face turned in the direction of the climbing sun. Kagome had stopped too, her face also pointing in the direction of the West. Her entire body was as stiff and straight as a ruler, her eyes more focused than they had been in several days.

"What is it, Kagome-sama?" Miroku asked, doubling back as he regarded Kagome with an expert eye.

"I...I can sense shikon-no-kakera," she murmured, her eyes focusing on that which only she could see.

Everybody in the group tensed; Sango readied her Hiraikotsu, Miroku's hand clenched on his Shakujou, Kirara transformed into her giant fiery self and Shippou wailed as he ducked into the fur lining the scruff of Kirara's neck. _"Dammit, some fuckin' youkai's coming and I'm a fuckin' dog!" _InuYasha yowled, even as he lowered himself to the ground and bared his fangs. What his puny dog-strength could do, he didn't know, but InuYasha wasn't about to give up without a fight or run away with his tail between his legs.

"Do you know how many shards are there, Kagome-chan?" Sango asked urgently, her eyes scanning the foliage for any signs of youkai.

Kagome's brow furrowed as her eyes followed the path of the shikon-no-kakera and dissected the aura around them. _'Two shards...moving very fast...oh, Kami-'_

"It's Kouga-kun!" she shouted.

The group's tension did not lessen. On the contrary, everyone became more tense as Sango rapped out, "Kagome-chan, get behind Kirara. Miroku, you and I should stand guard on either side of her, okay?" The houshi nodded his understanding and quickly moved to his post. InuYasha growled deeply, his hackles raising as the look in his eyes became positively venomous. Of course the idiot ōkami would notice immediately that InuYasha wasn't there, which he would interpret as leaving Kagome up for grabs. As to what Kouga would do then...

_'No...I won't let him!' _The growl in InuYasha's throat increased as he widened his stance, ready for whatever threat the ōkami could dish out. _'I WON'T LET HIM GET KAGOME!'_

As predicted, a whirlwind appeared over the tops of the trees, twisting and turning through the forest as it made its way toward InuYasha's group. Kagome's hand fisted in InuYasha's fur as she drew herself closer to the dog. _'Please,' _she prayed to the Kami above, _'please let Kouga-kun just want some information, or else a lead on Naraku. Please.' _The whirlwind was on the path now, then it abruptly abated, revealing Kouga in all his savage glory. The ōkami-prince cocked his head at the group, puzzled.

"Where the hell is inu-korro at? Don't tell me he's decided to abandon you and hunt Naraku on his own." Kouga's voice was incredulous as he looked at the group, although InuYasha could hear a faint trace of satisfaction in the ōkami's voice. Miroku and Sango looked at each other, deciding right then and there to lie to Kouga. It would be easy to say that InuYasha was only gone to look for something and that he would be back at any time. The ōkami knew from experience that InuYasha would attack him as soon as the hanyou caught sight of him, and, knowing that he would be overpowered, Kouga would leave and the group could breathe easy.

Unfortunately, before either Miroku or Sango could start talking, Shippou's bad habit of thinking with his mouth struck again. "InuYasha's been missing for several days, and we don't know where he is," the kitsune stated. Kouga stared at him, his blue eyes quickly going from disbelieving to victorious.

"Shippou!" Sango hissed at him. Shippou, realizing that he'd given too much away yet again, clamped his tiny hands over his mouth belatedly.

"The dog's away-" Kouga growled, his blue eyes flashing toward Kagome, a wicked glint sparking in his pupils. Then Kagome saw the shards in his legs shine with power as Kouga kicked off the ground, moving so fast that by the time Sango, Miroku and Kirara could blink, he had vaulted over Kirara, seized Kagome about the middle and started to run. "-so the wolf can play!" he finished. "Sorry for bothering you humans, but Kagome will be leaving you now!"

_"OVER MY DEAD BODY!" _InuYasha leaped over Kirara, his paws thudding against the sodden earth as he chased after Kouga, his ears flattened against his skull. Teeth bared, he jumped again, focusing all of his power into the leap. Amazingly, he managed to land right on Kouga's back.

"Mongrel!" Kouga lashed out with one fist and caught InuYasha a glancing blow on the jaw, sending him spinning into the surrounding foliage with a yelp of pain. Kouga smirked, then turned tail and ran as hard and as fast as he could, leaving the rest of the group in the dust. (Or rather, mud.) InuYasha ignored the pounding ache in his skull and charged after Kouga, sending mud and leaves everywhere as he pushed himself harder and faster. His sharp nose told him that Kouga had gone off the path and into the trees, choosing to lose the humans by taking a zigzag path through the forest. Knowing his human friends and their capabilities, Miroku and Sango would probably be going in circles for a good while...long enough for Kouga to get away with Kagome.

_"Dammit, I will NOT let him take her away from me!" _he bellowed, the ground flying beneath his paws as he pushed himself harder and harder, unwilling to let the ōkami win once and for all just because he was a dog. _"Not this time, Kouga! This time, I rip out your damn throat! You'll learn once and for all that NO-ONE takes Kagome away from me!"_

* * *

As InuYasha ran, something interesting began to happen to him. So great was his anger that he didn't notice that he was no longer running on four legs, but on two. He didn't feel his mane flapping in the turbulence from his great speed, or sense the return of his youkai powers. All he knew was the anger and intense loathing he felt toward Kouga, and the need to see if Kagome was safe.

"I will find you, Kagome," InuYasha growled, "Don't worry, I'll make sure you stay safe!"

* * *

Kouga finally arrived at his destination; a small cave set in a mountain that was quite a few miles away from the attack site. It was far enough from the path to insure that Kagome's human and youkai friends couldn't find her, which meant that Kagome was finally _his. _Kouga grinned at his unexpected luck. What fortune it was that he'd crossed paths with Kagome when InuYasha wasn't around! Now he could take what was rightfully his without that grabby puppy and his giant katana getting in the way.

"Where the hell are you taking me?" Kagome cried, pounding ineffectually at his shoulders as she squirmed and writhed in his grasp.

"Just here will do," Kouga replied, dumping Kagome on the floor and turning back. Cautiously, he looked out of the entrance of the cave, checking first left, then right. Satisfied that they were truly alone, Kouga turned around and walked over to Kagome, who had been trying to locate a rear exit while Kouga was looking out the front. "Finally, Kagome," the ōkami-prince purred as he placed his hands on either side of Kagome's head. "Finally, you and me get some alone time."

Kagome shuddered as the implication of Kouga's words sunk deep into her brain. "Please, Kouga," she said, trying to back away without any success. "I don't _want _this. If you really love me, you won't make me do anything I don't want to do."

Kouga just shrugged off Kagome's call for him to stop, stating, "I know you like that dog-breathed mongrel, but as soon as you've been with _me, _you'll forget all about him." He moved closer, his hands going from either side of her head to her chest.

"It doesn't _WORK _like that!" Kagome shrieked, her miko powers flaring and nearly searing Kouga's hands. "Get your hands off me right now, Kouga!"

"Not when I have this chance to make you _mine, _Kagome!" Kouga roared, then his hands were gripping the fabric of her shirt, ready to start tearing the material away.

"No, don't! Please!" Tears started in Kagome's eyes as the ōkami ignored her pleas and tore her shirt, roughly pushing the fabric away to expose her breasts, still hidden behind her frilly white bra.

"Stop struggling, Kagome," Kouga said, although he sounded more 'comforting' than angry. "You'll mess this up if you do, and I _know _you won't want that."

"No, no, no," she moaned, as the ōkami-prince brought up his hands, this time ready to start fondling her breasts. "Nooooooo," she whimpered as each hand seized a breast and squeezed.

"NO! STOP!" Kagome lifted her tear-stained face to the ceiling of the cave and screamed her last hope to whatever Kami was still listening to her. "INUYASHA! SAVE ME, PLEASE!"

* * *

InuYasha was sniffing around the base of a mountain, trying to determine where Kouga's scent had gone. He was just about to start his sixth lap around the mountain when he heard Kagome shrieking at Kouga, telling him to get his hands off of her. "No you don't, you fuckin' ōkami!" he roared, and leaped up the sides of the mountain. The hanyou jumped once, twice, three times before he saw the gaping mouth of the cave. Without further ado, he charged inside.

InuYasha's vision went blood red at the sight of Kouga standing with his body so close to Kagome's, his filthy hands fondling her breasts as he ignored the tears trailing down her face and her frequent pleas for him to leave her alone. "INUYASHA! SAVE ME, PLEASE!" Kagome screamed, right at the moment when InuYasha launched himself at Kouga, his clawed hands extending toward his throat. Kouga, sensing an overwhelming wave of youki, turned just in time to see the hanyou soaring toward him.

"Inu-"

Kouga was cut off as InuYasha slammed into him, sending the two of them crashing to the ground. Then the two youkai were locked together, grappling furiously as the ōkami and the inu-hanyou fought over the collapsed and weeping miko. Kouga had no idea where InuYasha had come from or how he had found them so quickly, but he did know one thing: he was no match for InuYasha in his enraged state. Quickly, Kouga whipped around and darted out of the cave, his tail flying behind him as he fled from the angry hanyou. InuYasha chose that moment to employ a move he had seen when Souta had forced him to watch 'television' with him; he leaped off the ground and tackled Kouga around the knees, bringing the ōkami down hard as he tore at his torso and arms. The struggling pair tumbled down the side of the mountain, sometimes smashing against the rocks as they continued to fight each other. InuYasha quickly overpowered Kouga: by the time they reached the bottom of the mountain, he had his arms firmly locked around his opponent. When he'd gotten a steady footing, InuYasha slammed the ōkami against a large rock, making Kouga's teeth rattle in his skull.

"If I _ever _catch you forcing yourself on Kagome again," InuYasha snarled, his face dominating Kouga's vision, his angry amber eyes staring down Kouga's nonplussed blue ones, "your body will be in so many pieces that the worms won't even have to swallow to eat you!" With that, InuYasha whirled about and threw the ōkami-youkai like an Olympic champion would throw the shot-put. Kouga landed a good three hundred feet away, the bones in his right arm snapping like twigs. Embarrassed, wounded and thoroughly beaten, the ōkami prince got up and limped away, his tail between his legs as he quickly vanished into the woods. "Yeah, that's right, fuckin' ōkami!" InuYasha called after him, pushing back his sweaty silver bangs with one hand.

Suddenly, the reality of the situation caught up with the hanyou, the realization hitting him like a thunderbolt. InuYasha slowly took his hand away from his forehead and looked at it, utterly stupified. He could feel his clothes sticking to his body and the weight of the Tetsusaiga at his hip. His mane of silver hair rustled in the breeze, and his clawed toes were gripping the ground as he swayed slightly. _'I'm...I'm...normal again,' _he thought, dumbfounded. _'I'm not dreaming. I'm fuckin' __**normal **__again!'_

Then InuYasha remembered the young miko he had abandoned in the cave while he had been intent on beating the shit out of Kouga. "Kagome!" he called, jumping up the side of the mountain again as he headed for the cave. "I'm coming, Kagome!"


	8. The Truth is Out

InuYasha hurriedly leaped up the rocky slope of the mountain, his legs sometimes scrambling for purchase as his eyes locked on the mouth of the cave above him. His keen ears picked up the sounds of Kagome's low sobs, which easily ripped through the surrounding silence. "I'm coming, Kagome," he muttered as he bent his legs for a great leap, "There's nothing for you to fear anymore."

With one final leap, InuYasha was at the mouth of the cave. Kagome had collapsed near the entrance, holding her tattered shirt to her breasts in an effort to cover her chest. Tears were falling thick and fast down her face and shivers were running up and down her arms, legs and lower back. "Kagome," he called softly, slowly approaching her with a slight wariness to his movements. Kagome may have been distraught at that moment, but that didn't mean she wasn't capable of sitting him a zillion times. (He'd learned _that _particular tidbit of information the hard way.)

Kagome looked up at the sound of InuYasha's voice, her eyes disbelieving. Was it really him? Was it really InuYasha? But...how? How could he have found her when she didn't even know where he had gone? But there he was: InuYasha, in all his savage glory. His wild mane of silver hair was rippling in the breeze that trailed through the cave, his cute dog ears twitching slightly atop his head. There was blood trickling down a wound that was on his arm and his neck was covered in shallow scratches, but he didn't seem to notice any of his hurts as he stared at her.

"Kagome," he repeated, moving closer to her when he saw no impending sit in her eyes. Kagome's trembling grew a little more violent as more tears gathered in her eyes. Without warning, Kagome launched herself at InuYasha, burying her face in his haori as she let her pent-up feelings take free rein at last.

"I...I was so..._so scared!" _she wailed, her face muffled by the red fabric of his haori, her hands clenching and unclenching on his shoulders.

For once, InuYasha didn't feel flustered. This time, he knew why Kagome was crying. The hanyou figured that anyone would start crying after everything she'd been through. He lifted his arms and wrapped them protectively about her, nuzzling the top of her head as he whispered, "I'm so sorry, Kagome. I'm _so _sorry. I wish I could have gotten here sooner."

Kagome sniffed as she lifted her tear-stained face to his, her watery brown eyes meeting his golden ones. "Where...where have you been, InuYasha? Why have you been gone for so long? And...and how did you know where I was and what was happening to me?"

InuYasha thought for a few seconds, then decided to say, "It's a long story Kagome, and I do mean a fuckin' _long _one. It's not important right now," he told her, lifting one hand to wipe her tears away as his other hand tightened about her waist. "What's important is getting you to a safe place."

Kagome's lips curved into a watery-looking smile, but it was the most genuine smile he'd seen on her face in a few days, bar none. "I...I guess not," she sniffled. InuYasha smirked at her, reaching down with the hand that had been wiping away her tears to grasp her own hand. Kagome's eyes widened as he placed a small kiss on the back of her hand, careful not to hurt her with his fangs.

"Am...am I dreaming?" she whispered.

"Not unless you were dreaming about that fuckin' ōkami, too," he retorted.

Kagome shuddered again and pressed herself closer to him. "No, that _wasn't _a dream, or I would've woken up before...before..." She trailed off, her shudders growing stronger.

"Don't worry, Kagome, that damn ōkami will never hurt you again," he growled, eyes flashing at the memory of Kouga with his hands on Kagome's chest. "I've made sure of _that._"

Kagome's relief at seeing InuYasha again helped her to overlook the dark meaning behind InuYasha's last sentence. She snuggled closer to his chest, reveling in the sound of the hanyou's strong heartbeat as she closed her eyes, content, at least for the moment. InuYasha lifted one hand and ran his fingers through Kagome's hair. One thing he'd learned as a dog was that sometimes words weren't necessary for comfort; a lesson that, admittedly, he'd needed to learn for a long time.

A few minutes later, InuYasha pulled Kagome to her feet, saying, "We'd better get back to the others. They'll still be goin' around in circles, since that damn ōkami did a good job of throwing them off his trail." InuYasha started for the entrance of the cave, then paused. Turning back to Kagome, InuYasha stripped off his fire-rat haori and handed it to her. "Here, wear this so you don't get cold," he told her.

Kagome nodded, then draped the haori about her shoulders like a blanket. "Thank you, InuYasha," she murmured gratefully. InuYasha blushed slightly, then he crouched down and allowed Kagome to get on his back. With a great leap, he took her out of the cave and halfway down the mountain.

When they reached the mountain's base, InuYasha let Kagome dismount, explaining his actions with, "I gotta figure out which way I took to get here, cuz that's the way we'll need to take to get back to the others." InuYasha had just started sniffing the area around him, looking for his own scent-trail, when it happened.

A terrible, twisting pain shot through his body, making him yelp at the awful sensation.

_'No! Not this again!' _he yowled in his mind. _'Not when I just turned back to fuckin' normal!'_

A few seconds later, Kagome had sprinted over to him, the haori she was wearing flying out behind her like a cape. "InuYasha! What's wrong? Are you hurt?" she asked urgently, her eyes widening at the sight of InuYasha holding his chest and grimacing as he swayed on the spot. "InuYasha!" she cried again, grabbing his arm with both of her hands, trying to support his greater weight with her body. "You're hurt, let's just-"

"No! Lemme talk," he growled, wincing horribly as another pain twisted through his body, nearly bringing him to his knees. "Remember how I said it was a long story? Well, now I'm gonna tell ya what happened," he started, gritting his teeth against another salvo of pain. Kagome looked scared, but nodded, showing that she was ready to listen.

"I was hunting in the forest, and I caught a boar. I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking, and I accidentally stepped on that fuckin' houshi's dokko."

"Dokko?" Kagome looked confused for a quarter of a second before understanding dawned on her face. She clapped a hand over her mouth as she gasped, "You mean-_you're _the youkai who broke Tôjirô-san's dokko?"

InuYasha nodded, then let out a dog-like yowl as the twisting sensation spread through his body once more. Unable to support his weight any more, his legs shook, then gave out as InuYasha fell to the ground. Kagome managed to keep him upright, kneeling rather than sprawling on his face. But the horrible pains were still arching through his body, making him whimper and yelp at odd intervals.

"Yeah, I broke the damn thing," he growled when he could catch his breath. The words were becoming harder to say as the pains grew and spread to every part of his body, from the tips of his ears to the ends of every single one of his clawed toes. "That Tôjirô bastard got mad at me...cast some sort of spell..."

"A spell?" Kagome looked confused again. "What spell?"

InuYasha sent her an incredulous look, which was rather off-set by the pain lurking in his golden irises. "That farmer-" InuYasha broke of in the middle of his sentence as a bark forced its way past his lips. "-told you," he finished. The pain was growing to that stage where his eyes could not see and his ears could not hear. He hoped Kagome would figure out what he meant before his time ran out.

Understanding dawned on Kagome's face. Her brown eyes grew wide as she finally, _finally, _put two and two together. "Oh, Kami...Yamainu," she whispered disbelievingly. "_You're _Yamainu. Dear Kami, I can't believe I was so _stupid! _The eyes, the fur, the way Kirara seemed to just _know _you right away...the way you walked right up to me in the forest..." Kagome tailed off, tears gathering in her eyes again.

InuYasha was about to reply, but the final stage of the pain was upon him. He was blinded and deafened, only able to feel the force of his pain-filled howls through the vibrations in his chest. Then came the sensation of being wound tighter and tighter, past what he thought would have been his breaking point, his body tensing like a steel spring that had been stretched too far.

The world gradually steadied as the pain abated. InuYasha panted heavily, his body trembling from the force of the spell. He knew it had reasserted itself; the hanyou could feel the thick fur on his body and the medium tail flicking slightly behind him. His paws rested on the ground and his muzzle had flopped open to let his tongue out from between his teeth.

_"Kami damn it all to Hell and back again,"_ InuYasha yowled, _"Not this again! Why the fuck am I a dog-again? I thought I __**broke **__the fuckin' spell!" _

A pair of arms tightened about his furry body as a hot wetness began seeping into the fur of his shoulder. InuYasha realized that Kagome had started to cry into his fur again, her hand stroking the back of his head as she wept. "InuYasha," she moaned as she drew the dog closer to her chest. "InuYasha, what has that houshi done to you?"

* * *

As predicted, Miroku, Sango, Kirara and Shippou had no success whatsoever in following Kouga and Kagome. Shippou's nose wasn't as good as InuYasha's, and he was often thrown off by the ōkami's zigzag tactic. Miroku and Sango were getting very worried about Kagome; Miroku had even started praying for Kagome's safety, something he only did when he thought someone was in grave danger.

"Houshi-sama," Sango began, her voice full of worry, "What do you think Kouga wanted from Kagome-chan?"

"Knowing Kouga, probably the same thing he's always wanted," Miroku replied, his voice grim. "Kagome-sama."

Sango turned to look at him, her eyes fearful. "You don't think-?"

Miroku didn't respond, but the grave look in his amethyst eyes became even more intense than before. Sango blinked back her tears, but she set her jaw and turned back, shouting, "Kirara! Get above the treeline!" Kirara growled in response as she soared higher into the air, breaking through the treetops and revealing the sea of green that was the tops of the trees. Sango started looking around, but couldn't see anything. "Damn," she cursed, "I can't see anything! Houshi-sama, can you sense his youki, or maybe his shikon-no-kakera?"

Miroku shook his head. "Kouga has moved beyond the range of my detection. Kagome-sama's natural powers far outweigh my own," he conceded, "So she would most likely to still be able to detect his shards. Unfortunately, I have no such power."

"Damn it all!" Sango cried, throwing the Hiraikotsu out of frustration. The giant boomerang whistled through the air and came rocketing back to the taijiya, who caught it with the ease of one who has used that weapon for many years. "I wish InuYasha was here! He was the best tracker out of all of us! Why the _hell _would he want to leave us?" she yelled, her voice echoing all around her as she vented her pent-up irritation.

"Calm down, Sango," Miroku soothed, his hand reaching for her shoulder (for once). "I'm sure everything will turn out all right in the end." The houshi, of course, had no way of knowing if this was true, but he knew that it would help Sango calm down, if only a little.

Shippou, who had been resting on Kirara's head, tuckered out by the fierce demands of the hardest tracking he had ever done, suddenly sat up, looking out toward a nearby mountain. "I think I can see something, Sango!" he shouted, his fuzzy tail twitching slightly as his emerald eyes narrowed, trying to focus on the base of the mountain.

Sango wasted no time as she told Kirara, "Head for that mountain!"

Kirara soared through the air, speeding toward the mountain, and hopefully, Kagome.

* * *

Kagome had decided that staying at the base of the mountain would be better than wandering through the forest while trying to look for their friends. "At least here, we're by something noticeable so the others can find us," Kagome told InuYasha, who had given her a disagreeable look when she had suggested the plan. InuYasha snorted, then laid his head on his paws.

The hanyou was depressed. He hadn't even gotten one fucking hour of normalcy before the spell had reactivated, or whatever it had done. All he'd been able to do was beat Kouga black and blue before he became a dog again.

_'At least Kagome knows, though,' _InuYasha told himself. That was something, at least. Wasn't that the main reason he'd hated being a dog?

But this change did nothing to dull down the intense disappointment flowing through InuYasha's veins at the thought that he was a dog once more.

Kagome reached over and absently started stroking his ears again. Then, as if she was doing something naughty, she stopped and jerked her hand away, mumbling, "Sorry, InuYasha, I-I wasn't thinking, I-" InuYasha lifted his head off of his paws, fixing her with an intense golden stare before he nudged her hand with his nose.

Kagome's embarrassment lifted, replaced by a confused sort of amusement as she asked, "Do...do you _like _it when I scratch your ears?" InuYasha deliberated, then nodded, nudging her hand again. Kagome giggled as she started scratching his ears again. "And to think, all this time, it was you I...I was..."

Kagome trailed off as her smile faded, her brow furrowing in thought.

_'Oh, shit,' _InuYasha thought, getting up and starting a slow and steady retreat. From the looks of it, Kagome's train of thought had just led her to the area he really didn't want her to arrive at; the fact that InuYasha and Yamainu were one and the same, which would beg the question: What had InuYasha seen as Yamainu?

Kagome's thoughts were indeed leading her in that direction.

_'Wait a minute...if InuYasha is Yamainu,' _she thought, a small blush spreading over her cheeks, _'Then...then I've told him-oh no!'_

Memories of the things she had told the hanyou/dog whirled through her head, making her face go redder and redder.

_"I...I get really lonely when InuYasha isn't here to...well, watch over me, and I...it's hard for me to sleep when he's gone."_

_"What if something's happened to him and he's hurt out there? Or...or worse, he...he went...went after her? What if I've lost him forever?"_

_"InuYasha couldn't ever like someone like me, and why would he? He's so strong, and brave, handsome and clever in his own way."_

That particular thought made the bottom of Kagome's stomach fall through the floor as she remembered the night she went to the hot-spring.

_'But that...that was...ohkami!' _she squealed internally, her hands flying to her beyond-scarlet face. _'InuYasha saw me naked! And...and...oh, Kami, I gave him a __**bath**__!' _

InuYasha cowered down, his tail tucked in between his legs as his ears laid down flat against his head. Kagome looked like she was about to explode, and when she exploded, there was sure to be a plethora of sits soon to follow. _"Oh, damn, this is gonna hurt," _he whined.

"You...you...HENTAI!" Kagome shrieked. Her hands scrabbled around and came up with a few pebbles, which she promptly started chucking at the hanyou. InuYasha yelped and darted to and fro, dodging the pebbles to the best of his ability. "You dare t-to SPY on me...and...and... URGH!" she shrieked, her hands going to her face as she covered the redness of her cheeks and cringed away.

This was how Miroku and Sango found them a few minutes later; Kagome hiding her red face behind her hands, the hanyou/dog cowering some fifty feet away from her, eying her with a frightened and rather wary eye.

"What in the name of all the Kami do you suppose happened here?" Sango asked incredulously.

* * *

_A/N: That ending was inspired by my recent unit, which had to do with "Of Mice and Men." =D_


	9. Patching Up

After the unpleasant rock-throwing scene at the base of the mountain, InuYasha had decided to avoid Kagome for a while. Experience told him that if he gave her some time to cool down, she would be more likely to forgive him and wouldn't force his face to kiss the hard ground. (Although, in his dog-state, InuYasha rather thought that she wasn't able to make him sit since the bewitched rosary was sealed along with the rest of his hanyou form.)

During the journey back to the road, Kagome related InuYasha's tale to Miroku and Sango, InuYasha sometimes contributing with a nod or a small bark. To their surprise, Sango took the news of InuYasha's transformation rather well. "I knew there was something more to him," she said. "He became attached to you much too quickly for a wild dog, Kagome-chan."

Kagome glared at InuYasha, growling, "You don't say," as she did so. InuYasha had quickly feigned interest in a fern growing by the side of the road. He knew better than to invoke Kagome's wrath by doing something stupid. Or, at least, he knew _now._

_"You back to dog again?" _Kirara had asked him, her head tilted slightly.

_"Just leave me the fuck alone. My life sucks right now," _InuYasha answered gloomily. He had gotten to experience the joy of being normal again for a little less than a quarter of an hour before he'd gone back to being a dog, and Kagome was mad at him for 'peeping' on her and wouldn't talk to him any more. _'I almost miss the time when she thought I was just an ordinary dog,' _InuYasha thought irritably, snapping at a bush that had a few branches poking out onto the path.

_"You forget very important thing," _Kirara told him, blinking down at him from Sango's shoulder.

_"Like what?" _he snapped back.

_"Miko not take off rat kimono," _Kirara observed.

InuYasha's eyes flicked from Kirara to Kagome. _'Holy shit, she's right,' _he realized: Kagome was indeed still wearing his fire-rat haori. Even though she had changed into a fresh shirt upon reaching Miroku, Sango and her backpack, she still had the haori draped around her shoulders, clutching it to her like a small child might clutch a favorite toy.

_"Think you should make up," _Kirara told him, her tails flicking slightly as she looked from Kagome to InuYasha and back again. _"Miko missed you. Probably not angry."_

_"I dunno..." _InuYasha wavered, unwilling to invoke the wrath of Kagome, which he had done one time too many. However, he didn't like seeing her with her shoulders slumped, like they were right now. _'I'll just play it humble and hope for the best,' _he thought. Slowly, he approached Kagome, his tail tucked between his legs, ears flattened against his head as his belly grew closer and closer to the ground beneath him; the ultimate sign of submission. _"Kagome?" _InuYasha called to get her attention. A high whine came out of his mouth.

Kagome stopped walking and looked down at him, her face unreadable. InuYasha whined again, nudging her calf with his cold nose as he lowered himself further to the ground. "InuYasha, what are you doing?" Kagome asked, her voice blank and devoid of emotion.

"Kagome-chan," Sango said softly from somewhere behind the pair, "That's what dogs do when they're humiliated. I think InuYasha is trying to tell you that he's sorry."

Kagome looked from her to InuYasha, who quickly nodded in agreement. "You're really sorry?" Kagome asked. InuYasha nodded again. Kagome thought for a few seconds, her brow furrowing slightly as a small frown crossed her face. InuYasha held his breath, hoping against hope that the miko would decide to forgive him.

A smile crossed Kagome's face as she knelt down before the hanyou and put her arms around his furry shoulders. "I forgive you, InuYasha," she murmured. InuYasha's jaw flopped open as he started panting. His tail came out from between his legs and started wagging madly as his spirits rose drastically.

_'Kagome forgives me!' _he shouted in his head.

"And...and just for the record," the miko told him as she drew back, "I wasn't really angry at you...it was more embarrassment than anything else."

InuYasha shrugged, the goofy grin on his muzzle spreading as his tail-wagging became more frantic than ever. _"I kinda knew that you would be angry at me when I changed back," _he said, even though he knew Kagome wouldn't understand him.

Kagome smiled at him, rubbing his ears with her left hand as she lowered her voice so only he would hear her say, "You are so kawaii as a dog...but I definitely prefer you as a hanyou."

Underneath his silver fur, InuYasha blushed. _"Feh!"_

* * *

Now that everyone knew that InuYasha had been transformed into a dog, their mission for the shikon-no-kakera and the defeat of Naraku had been temporarily put on hold as the group decided to look for a cure for their hanyou friend. "InuYasha is the strongest fighter out of all of us," Miroku stated that night, removing his roasted fish from the flames and taking a bite out of it. "With him in this state," he gestured to the large silver dog sitting beside Kagome, "We stand very little chance against Naraku and his youkai."

InuYasha dug into his fish, trying very hard not to let his chest swell too much. It was hard, seeing as the houshi had tickled his wounded pride and made him feel big-headed again. _"Damn right I'm the strongest out of all of you," _he bragged, _"No-one in the whole damn world can defeat __**me**__!"_

Kagome could tell that the hanyou was bragging; his tail was wagging furiously while his skinny chest was gradually puffing outwards. "Are you really so strong?" she asked playfully.

InuYasha whipped around, his eyes indignant as he shouted, _"Damn right I'm strong!"_

Kagome suddenly pounced on him, rolling him over and rubbing his fuzzy belly with both hands as she giggled, "Then why do I only have to do _this _to defeat you?"

_"Oi-wench-stoppit!" _InuYasha whined, even as his hind leg started kicking madly in response to having his stomach rubbed. _"You're embarrassing me!"_

Kagome laughed as she continued to rub his belly. Miroku and Sango watched the two of them with mixed expressions of disbelief and amusement on their faces.

"They're quite a pair, aren't they?" Sango wondered.

"So they are, Sango, so they are," Miroku said, leaning closer to her as his cursed hand made the forbidden journey toward Sango's behind. He had barely managed to touch her ass when-

"Touch me and you're dead, houshi," Sango snapped, putting one hand on his face and shoving him roughly away.

Shippou and Kirara watched the rest of the group from a quiet corner near the edge of the firelight. Shippou fed Kirara the rest of his fish as he observed, "They're all kinda dumb when it comes to each other, aren't they?"

Kirara mewed her agreement.


	10. The Search for Tôjirô, Part I

It was unanimously agreed upon the next morning that the first step to finding a cure for InuYasha's 'condition' was to try and find the houshi Tôjirô and ask him if he knew a way to get the spell removed from the hanyou. It was a rather flimsy plan, but as Miroku stated, "We have absolutely nothing else to go on, as of yet. This is the best plan we have now."

So the group changed direction and headed back toward the village where they had met the old farmer, hoping that he would be able to point them in the right direction. The journey probably wouldn't take too long, since they hadn't gotten that far away from the village when Kouga had kidnapped Kagome, and they had quickly found the path after InuYasha rescued her.

"Do you really think that houshi Tôjirô will be able to take the spell off of InuYasha?" Sango whispered to Miroku after checking to make sure InuYasha was out of earshot. (Which, seeing as this was InuYasha, meant that they had to be quite a few yards away from the hanyou in question.)

"I don't know," Miroku muttered back. "However, most spells that those in the spiritual professions learn are supposed to be unbreakable so the youkai we subdue cannot break them and wreak havoc."

"But Kagome-chan managed to break an 'unbreakable' seal on InuYasha," Sango argued. "And there was that time with those monkey spirits and the giant rock that was cursed to stick to InuYasha's hand. Don't those events prove that spells aren't infallible?"

Miroku shrugged. "You do have a point there, my dear Sango. But you forget the most important part." Sango flashed him a puzzled look, so Miroku continued. "InuYasha has already managed to break through the spell on his own at least once. I believe it was because Kagome-sama was being threatened by Kouga, and his instinct to protect her over-rode the spell. However, it wasn't a strong enough force to completely break it."

"Then what is?"

"Again, I don't know. That is why we must seek out Tôjirô-sama."

* * *

As Miroku and Sango talked, Kagome, InuYasha and Shippou were conversing as well. (Although, in InuYasha's case, it was more listening than talking.) "I wonder why we didn't notice that _you _were Yamainu, InuYasha," Shippou wondered as he peered down at InuYasha from the safety of Kagome's shoulder. "I mean, I thought I would've recognized that dumb look in your eyes right away!"

InuYasha growled at him. _"You wanna repeat that?"_

"Shippou, be nice to InuYasha," Kagome scolded, tapping the kitsune on the nose like one might do to a naughty puppy.

"Okay, Kagome." Shippou pretended to relent, but he stuck his tongue out at the hanyou when she wasn't looking. "Still though; why do you think we didn't notice?"

Kagome's eyes went from the kitsune on her shoulder to the white dog on the ground. "I suppose we were just too blind to see it," she murmured. "We couldn't believe that InuYasha had been transformed into this," she gestured to InuYasha, "because a dog is not what we see when we picture InuYasha." Kagome fixed InuYasha with a strange look as she said in an almost pleading sort of tone, "We didn't know that this dog right here is InuYasha because it isn't what InuYasha is supposed to be."

InuYasha blinked. He'd never really taken that into consideration. He may have been half inu-youkai, but Kagome had always told him that she and the rest of the group saw him as a person and not as an animal. Following that statement, InuYasha supposed that it was easy to see why they couldn't figure out that InuYasha and Yamainu were the same being. It didn't make him feel any better about the whole situation, because he was still a _dog, _but it did give him a new view on Kagome's perspective.

Shippou shrugged. "I guess so." Then, something seemed to dawn on the kitsune as he asked, "Hey, Kagome, do you know why InuYasha transformed back into himself when Kouga tried to kidnap you?" InuYasha growled at the memory; remembering again Kagome's pleading cries and Kouga's filthy hands...

"I don't know," Kagome murmured, "At the time, I wasn't thinking very much about anything, except...except..."

"Except that InuYasha was back," Shippou completed for her; stating, not asking. Kagome blushed bright pink, but nodded in agreement.

"You know what I think?" Shippou asked.

_"No-one wants to know what you think, runt," _InuYasha growled. _"Especially when your thoughts are about __**me.**__"_

Shippou, of course, didn't understand what InuYasha was growling about, and continued on with his theory. "_I _think that InuYasha was so mad at Kouga that he forgot he was a dog!"

InuYasha and Kagome both stared at the kitsune, dumbfounded. "Well, it _is _what I think," Shippou grumbled, disappointed at the lack of praise, "You don't _have _to agree with me."

Kagome, however, shook her head. "It's not that I disagree with you, Shippou-chan...it's just that...that's a surprisingly _good _theory."

Shippou blinked, then decided that Kagome was praising him and grinned, his fangs flashing in the sunlight as his tail started bobbing up and down. "Really?"

"Yes." Kagome's eyes were thoughtful as she thought back to the events in the mountain cave. Kouga had been attempting to rape her, and she had just screamed for help when InuYasha had tackled him and started to fight the ōkami with tooth and claw, which usually meant one of two things: One, InuYasha thought the enemy was so weak that Tetsusaiga would be overkill, or two, InuYasha was so enraged at whatever enemy was in front of him that he forgot about his katana and just charged forth to fight whoever had insulted him. Knowing that it was Kouga who InuYasha had fought, Kagome suspected that it was a combination of those two factors that led to that...particular fight.

Turning to InuYasha, she asked, "You were really angry at Kouga, weren't you?"

InuYasha gave her a look that clearly said "Duh."

Kagome grimaced as she said, "I...guess that was kind of obvious, huh?"

InuYasha snorted. _"Yeah, Kagome, it wasn't like I was about to overlook the fact that he tried to force himself on you in a __**fuckin' cave**__! Seriously, woman, think before you speak!" _

Kagome thought she got the gist of what InuYasha was saying, and was glad that she couldn't understand him. "Okay, sure," she said distractedly, then resumed her original train of thought by saying, "Let me guess: You started off as a dog when you began chasing Kouga, and by the time you reached the mountain, you were yourself again, right?"

InuYasha thought for a few seconds, then nodded in agreement. Kagome turned her gaze back to the now smug kitsune on her shoulder. "...I think you're on to something, Shippou-chan."

"Of course I am," Shippou bragged. "It was _obvious._"

"Hey, hurry up back there!" Sango called back to the hanyou, kitsune and miko. "We're almost to the village; we can see the smoke from here!"

_"Fuck-wait up!" _InuYasha took off after the two humans, leaving a trail of dust behind him that caused Kagome and Shippou to cough for a few seconds afterward.

"Hold on, InuYasha!" Kagome called as she herself started to run. "Wait for us!"

* * *

Ryuuichirô paused in his work and wiped his brow with his sleeve. He'd barely dug up half of one row of the field before his breath had left him. _'Perhaps I'm getting a mite too old for farming,' _he thought, even as he lifted his hoe and began hacking at the ground again.

A commotion behind him made the old farmer turn around. _'Those young'uns are back?' _he thought, nonplussed. The women who had asked him about Tôjirô were back in the village; he knew it was them because the younger of the two was still wearing those odd clothes she had been wearing the first time he'd caught sight of them. The large silver dog was with them, too, and a houshi that Ryuuichirô hadn't seen before. _'Maybe I should go see what they want,' _he thought, and slowly began moving toward the group, ignoring the protesting creaks of his old bones.

Shippou was the one who noticed the old farmer making his way toward them. The kitsune tugged on Kagome's ear, whispering, "It's that old farmer guy again!"

Kagome turned around and saw the old man making his slow way toward them. "You're right! I wonder what he wants?"

Miroku strode forth to meet the old man, saying, "He probably recognizes you two and wants to say hello."

InuYasha snorted. _"Senile old men don't remember nothin'." _Still, he, too, followed the rest of the group as they walked toward the farmer.

"Well, if it isn't you young'uns again!" the farmer greeted them, his wrinkled and craggy face breaking out into a smile. "What brings you back to this village?"

"Well, sir-" Kagome began.

"You don't have to call me 'sir,' young lady," the farmer interrupted, hold up one hand to silence the miko, "Just call me by my proper name, Ryuuichirô."

"Okay then, Ryuuichirô-san," Kagome started again, a small smile crossing her face, "You told us about Tôjirô last time, do you remember?"

Ryuuichirô chuckled at her, his watery eyes filled with humor. "Of course I remember, young lady-this old mind of mine hasn't gone yet!" Ryuuichirô stopped talking for a few seconds to guffaw at what he had said. Kagome, Miroku, Sango, Kirara and Shippou waited patiently for him to finish, while InuYasha resisted the urge to bark at the old man. Finally, Ryuuichirô seemed to get over his brief bout of laughter and got back to the point. "Yes, I remember. Did you have another question?"

This time, it was Miroku who spoke. "Indeed. We wanted to ask you if you knew where Tôjirô is right now."

Ryuuichirô frowned at them, his eyes calculating. "Why would you want to know that? He's a powerful houshi, but I must admit, he's not all that likable."

"I know, but..." Miroku sighed, and looked first to Sango, then to Kagome, and finally to InuYasha. Sango and Kagome both nodded at him, while InuYasha fixed him with a clearly exasperated look. Miroku straightened, tightened his grip on his Shakujou, and began to speak again. "Well...you see our furry companion here?" He gestured to InuYasha, who growled at being referred to as a 'furry companion.' At Ryuuichirô's nod, he continued. "Well, he's not really a dog."

Understanding dawned on the old farmer's face as he said. "'Ah, I see. He's one of the many youkai who Tôjirô cursed, isn't he?"

Miroku nodded, glad that Ryuuichirô understood so quickly. "We need him back in his natural form, but InuYasha (for that is his name) cannot break the spell on his own. Is there any way we could find Tôjirô and, perhaps, manage to convince him to remove the spell?"

Ryuuichirô's brow became even more wrinkled as he thought. "I'm not sure about that; what did your friend do to anger Tôjirô?"

Kagome jumped into the conversation, stating, "InuYasha is the youkai who broke Tôjirô-san's dokko, Ryuuichirô-san."

Ryuuichirô looked surprised. "Oh, so _this _is the youkai who broke the dokko! No wonder Tôjirô was so enraged when he saw your dog! He recognized him as the one who broke old Chikanaka's dokko." The farmer looked down at the silver dog, pity in his next few sentences as he quavered, "Poor thing. What a trivial thing to be punished for. If only Tôjirô had been able to learn to control his temper."

Sango decided that it was time to redirect the conversation to the point and interjected with, "That's all well and good, but what about Tôjirô? Do you have any idea where he might be?"

Ryuuichirô looked thoughtful, his wrinkled hand reaching up to tangle in his gray hair. "Hmm...let me think...ah! Yes, that's most likely the place!" Ryuuichirô took his hand out of his hair and said, "When Tôjirô is not out traveling, he can usually be found at the Tsukikage Shrine; the temple where he spent most of his youth and where his master Chikanaka rests."

"Tsukikage Shrine," Kagome murmured, committing the name to memory.

"Which direction do we have to go to find it?" Miroku asked.

Ryuuichirô rubbed his chin for a few seconds. "I don't really know, because I've never been there. I know it's close by, because we always have houshi and miko coming through this village to find it. What I do know is that the entrance to the shrine has a crescent moon painted on the topmost beam...I'm afraid that's all I can tell you youngsters." Ryuuichirô leaned on his hoe, his eyes studying the group intently. "You might try asking around the village, though. I'm sure there's someone else heading for Tsukikage Shrine, and they might be able to give you more of a hint than I can."

Miroku bowed slightly to the farmer as he said, "Thank you for helping us, Ryuuichirô-sama."

"My pleasure," he croaked back. "I hope you can help your friend become normal again." Ryuuichirô waved good-bye to the group and turned back to his field. _'Now, let's see if I can finish hoeing my field today...'_

* * *

tsukikage-moonlight


	11. The Search for Tôjirô, Part II

After three hours of talking to nearly every person in the village, Miroku, Sango and Kagome had to admit that they were no closer to discovering where Tsukikage Shrine was than they were to defeating Naraku. "I guess the houshi and miko who come through here to go to the shrine don't stay here for very long," Kagome said dully, throwing a small stone into the river where the group was currently resting. "We haven't seen a single houshi or miko since we've gotten here."

"Apart from you or houshi-sama," Sango corrected her, one hand stroking Kirara as she stared unseeingly at the opposite bank of the river.

"Apart from me or Miroku-sama," Kagome agreed. One hand strayed to where InuYasha was lying and started to scratch the area between his ears. She smiled slightly when his golden eyes drifted shut and he involuntarily leaned into her touch.

"Speaking of houshi-sama," Sango started, her brown eyes casting around for Miroku, "Do you know where he went?"

Kagome looked up, her face thoughtful. "I don't know; he said that he and Shippou were going to scout around the edge of the village for something, but I don't know what that 'something' could be."

Sango's gaze became fierce as her jaw locked. The taijiya stood up, grabbing her Hiraikotsu as she did so.

"Sango-chan?"

"I'm going to go find that hentai houshi and bring him back here," Sango gritted out. "Come on, Kirara!" Kirara mewed and leaped up onto Sango's shoulder, then Sango walked off, her shoulders stiff.

Kagome shook her head, tutting, "Will Miroku-sama ever learn?"

InuYasha snorted and rolled over onto his side. _"He'll never learn a fuckin' thing. He's a hentai, remember?"_

Kagome reached out again and began to rub the side of him that was not on the ground. She knew when the hanyou stayed silent that he didn't mind her actions. "You know what I might miss the most about you being a dog?" she asked.

InuYasha's head came up off of the ground, his face incredulous. _"What?" _

Kagome smiled at the look on his face. "I've already told you that I prefer you as a hanyou, didn't I? It's just that...that..." Kagome's face went bright pink as her voice dropped to a whisper. "It's just that we've become so much closer while you've been a dog, and I...I don't want that to go away when you're transformed back into yourself."

InuYasha looked at her for a few seconds, then he got up, walked over to where Kagome was sitting, and flopped down into her lap, scooting back so his furry back rested against her tummy, his head lying on her arm. "InuYasha?" Kagome squeaked-her voice seemed to have risen three octaves. InuYasha could hear how her heart had sped up, pounding hard and fast in her chest. Her breathing was coming more rapidly as well.

_'Never knew I could do __**this **__to her,' _he thought, nonplussed. But InuYasha quickly shook off the feeling and settled more comfortably against Kagome. _"We won't lose anything, Kagome," _he told her, licking her hand and nuzzling it to try to get her to stroke his ears again. _"I promise you, we won't lose anything."_

Even though Kagome couldn't understand his words, she could understand the hanyou's actions, and she knew he was trying to comfort her. A small smile broke out across her face as she moved the hand he was licking to his head and began rubbing his ears again. "Thank you, InuYasha," she whispered.

Underneath his fur, InuYasha went bright red with pleasure. _"Whatever," _he growled, his tail starting to wag involuntarily.

The pair of them sat like that in silence for a good while; InuYasha's large furry body curled up on Kagome's lap, her hand carefully stroking his ears and neck while she watched the cool waters of the river trickle on and on. It was a nice moment to be sure, but InuYasha couldn't help thinking that it would have been perfect if he had been normal at that moment. His ears drooped slightly at the thought, and he found himself hating Tôjirô more than ever.

_'What gives him the fuckin' right to take away my happiness like that?' _he grumbled to himself. _'I don't want to be Kagome's pet for the rest of my life...I want to be __**myself**__, and with Kagome like...like...' _The thought trailed off as InuYasha felt himself blush again.

"InuYasha?" Kagome's quiet voice broke through InuYasha's thoughts like a baseball through a window. He flicked an ear back toward her, indicating that he was listening to her.

"I...I wanted to ask you something," she mumbled, her fingers stilling on his ears.

InuYasha heard the almost hesitant undertone in her awkward question and felt a strange sensation descend over him. His heart seemed to stop for a few seconds, then restarted at a much faster pace than before. If he had been normal, he probably would have broken out into a sweat. _"What?" _he asked, his golden eyes becoming slightly wary.

Kagome took a deep breath; steadying herself, InuYasha realized. _'What the fuck is she going to ask me?' _he wondered.

"What would-" Kagome began, but was interrupted by a sudden commotion behind them. Turning around, they saw Sango dragging Miroku toward the river, her fingers clenched tightly on the houshi's ear. Miroku was vehemently denying something while Sango pulled him along.

"-I told you, Sango, I was only asking them if they knew where the Tsukikage Shrine is!" Miroku complained, trying without much success to free himself from Sango's iron grasp.

"Yeah, I'm _sure _asking a group of young village women 'Will you bear my children for me?' has _everything _to do with the Tsukikage Shrine," Sango growled, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Kirara and Shippou both darted out from behind the houshi and taijiya, running pell-mell toward the blanket where InuYasha and Kagome were resting. "Phew...they've been like that since Sango found Miroku,' Shippou panted, wiping his small brow with an equally small hand. Then, he noticed the tears of disappointment glimmering in Kagome's eyes, as well as the death-glare InuYasha had fixed on Miroku and Sango.

"Did we interrupt something?" Shippou asked.

_"Only what could've been the most important thing Kagome's ever asked me," _InuYasha grumbled.

* * *

It turned out that Miroku _had _actually managed to learn something about the Tsukikage Shrine before he had run into the group of young village women and his hentai nature had kicked in. "There's a woman on the far side of the village who runs a small tea-house," Miroku told the group at large as he gratefully accepted the can of lemonade Kagome handed him. "We didn't notice it before because it was closed for cleaning the last time we were here, and it only just opened again one hour ago. Apparently, the tea she makes is a very soothing and relaxing tea, making it popular among the visiting houshi and miko."

_"Can you get to the fuckin' __**point**__, Miroku?" _InuYasha growled.

Miroku gave InuYasha a feigned look of hurt before moving on. "Anyway, she said she knew where the Tsukikage Shrine is. Apparently, it's about three miles in that direction." Miroku pointed to the East as he spoke.

"And then what? Did you put the moves on her, too?" Sango asked, her voice dangerously friendly.

"I did not," Miroku said, his voice filled with an innocence that all of them had heard far too often to believe. "She...wasn't my type."

"She was too old for you, wasn't she?" Kagome asked with a knowing look in her eyes.

"By about fifty years," Miroku replied with a theatrical shudder.

* * *

After the group had rested for another few minutes, they found the road that led to the East and began to walk toward the Tsukikage Shrine, where they could hopefully find Tôjirô and break the spell on InuYasha.

"How long d'you think it'll take for us to get there?" Shippou asked. "Three miles sounds like an awful long way away."

"It's not really that long, Shippou-chan," Kagome told the kitsune as she fished out a lolly from her bag of things and gave it to him. "If we keep moving at a reasonable pace, we can get there by tomorrow at the latest.

InuYasha trailed behind the two of them. He heard Kagome's estimated time of arrival and complained, _"Can't we go any faster? I don't wanna be a dog any longer than necessary!"_

Kagome heard the hanyou's whines and turned back to him, her eyes stern. "I know you don't want to be a dog anymore, InuYasha, but you have to be patient, okay? We can't ride over to Tsukikage Shrine on Kirara because if they're anything like Tôjirô, they're going to be radical youkai haters, so we don't want to give them any reason to attack us."

Kagome's argument was filled with reason, but of course InuYasha didn't want to agree with her. _"I'd rather have them hate us than be stuck as a dog," _he grumbled.

Kagome ignored InuYasha's complaints and instead yelled, "How will we know if it's the Tsukikage Shrine again?"

Sango, who was up in the front with Miroku and Kirara, hollered back, "The entrance to the shrine has a crescent moon painted on the top part, remember?"

Kagome nodded. "Yeah, I thought so."

_"If you already knew what to look for, then why the fuck did you ask her?" _InuYasha barked irritably. Kagome turned to fix him with a glare, which made the hanyou wince, even though Kagome couldn't sit him anymore.

Sango shook her head as she turned back to Miroku. "Even when InuYasha can't say anything, he still manages to find ways to fight with Kagome-chan."

Miroku shrugged. "Some things will never change, my dear Sango."

Sango recognized the glint in his amethyst eye when he said that, and managed to intercept his cursed hand right before it could make contact with her ass. "Houshi-sama," she said, her voice far too sweet, "Do I have to _remind _you of what happens when you try to touch me like that?" Like lightning, her hand flashed out and caught the houshi a burning blow on his cheek.

Miroku grinned and rubbed the bright red slap-mark on his cheek. "The pleasure is well worth the pain, dear Sango."

* * *

The next morning dawned, clear and bright. After a brief breakfast of some of the dried foods Kagome had brought from home there was a small fight, since InuYasha had demolished his portion of ramen in record time, then butted Shippou aside and polished off his share, too. Shippou had started wailing, resulting in Kagome telling InuYasha off for his actions while the hanyou shot poisonous looks toward the smug kitsune. Since the rest of the group had to wait until Kagome stopped yelling at InuYasha for them to start toward the Tsukikage Shrine, it was almost noon by the time they were finally able to set out on their journey.

"Really, InuYasha," Kagome scolded. "Stealing Shippou's food like that; I mean, how could you?"

InuYasha snorted and turned his head away, growling, _"You didn't hear how the runt was making fun of me, baka wench."_

Miroku and Sango tried their best to converse amongst themselves and ignore the feelings of hostility and upset coming from behind them. It was difficult, but they were used to such encounters by now.

The forest overhead started to converge on the path the farther they walked, and soon there was a thick canopy of dark evergreens blocking out the light of the sun. There was enough light filtering through the thick needles for the group to navigate the path, but if night fell, then it would become almost impossible for them to tell forest from path.

Then, just as the sun was starting to set behind them, the entrance to a shrine appeared. Sango nudged Miroku in the side and pointed. There was a crescent moon painted on the top of the sacred torii gate in faded purple paint. Beyond the gate there was a set of stone steps leading up to the shrine itself.

"InuYasha, Kagome, we're here!" Sango called. There was a pause, and then Kagome and InuYasha were right there behind them. Kagome had her hand on the scruff of InuYasha's neck, obviously trying to restrain him from running up the steps and possibly arousing the suspicions of the shrine's inhabitants.

"So this is the Tsukikage Shrine," Kagome murmured, the hand on InuYasha's neck clenching tight on the fur located there. "I hope someone there can help us." No-one said anything else as the group began to climb the stone steps, up, up, up toward the main building of the Tsukikage Shrine and, hopefully, someone who could help InuYasha.

* * *

The Tsukikage Shrine wasn't stuffed to the gills with houshi and miko as they had previously thought it would be. Instead, the place looked as deserted as a ghost town. There was only one person in sight; an old houshi who was using a very dilapidated broom to sweep away some of the pine needles that had accumulated near the steps to the main shrine building.

"Do you think that's the head houshi of this shrine?" Kagome whispered to Sango, drawing back toward the steps of the shrine.

"Probably," Sango murmured back. "He does look like a head houshi."

Miroku was the first to start walking forward, saying, "Let's go talk to him and see if he can help us."

Slowly, the group approached the old man, who continued to sweep the pine needles away from the base of the steps. "Excuse me, jiji-sama," Kagome said, tapping the old man on his shoulder. He gave a small start and looked up. From the milky-gray look of his old eyes, Kagome could see that the houshi was blind.

"Yes? What is it, young lady?" he mumbled, his voice barely distinguishable from the whispering of the rustling trees.

"Well, we-that is to say, me, Miroku-sama, Sango-chan, and myself-were wondering if a houshi who trained here, someone by the name of Tôjirô...well, we were wondering if he's here right now," Kagome waffled, unsure of how to phrase her question politely.

"Tôjirô, you say?" The old houshi straightened up slightly. "He was here a few days ago, but he left this morning."

The group at large groaned, and accusations were about to start flying left and right when Miroku asked, "Any particular reason why Tôjirô left the shrine?"

The old man put one hand on his bristly chin, murmuring, "Hmm...I believe there was a reason...now, what did that young lad say? Hmm..." The group waited minute after minute after agonizing minute for the houshi to gather his thoughts. Kagome's hand was on InuYasha's scruff once more, fisted tightly in his fur in order to keep him from snapping at the houshi out of irritation.

"Ah, yes, now I remember," the houshi finally said. "A young man from a rather large city about two days from here to the South came to us and begged for Tôjirô's help. He said that a dark miko had settled down on the outskirts of the city and had started stealing the souls of the dead with the help of her youkai familiars. Tôjirô said he would deal with the miko and accompanied the young man back to the city."

Miroku and Sango felt a familiar sensation descend over the group; the air around Kagome and InuYasha felt like it was thickening to the consistency of old porridge. Shippou watched with some trepidation as Kagome's hand slowly unfisted from InuYasha's scruff and she moved over to where Sango was standing.

InuYasha didn't notice Kagome's absence; his mind seemed to be in meltdown. _'Kikyou...does he mean Kikyou?' _Then he thought about the fact that Tôjirô had been sent to "deal" with the dark miko. InuYasha's hackles slowly rose at the thought of Tôjirô threatening Kikyou.

_'I won't let him...I may be a dog, but I won't let him get her!' _Without further ado, InuYasha turned tail and began running for the exit, a snarl building up in his throat as he ran for the stone stairs. Kirara jumped off of Sango's shoulder and chased after him, mewing frantically as she did so.

"Thank you very much for helping us, jiji-sama," Kagome said dully, her eyes fixed on the spot where InuYasha had been a few seconds previously.

"You're welcome, dear," the houshi creaked as he resumed sweeping the steps. Kagome slowly turned around and began walking toward the exit. Miroku and Sango eyed her worriedly.

"I'm getting a really bad feeling about this, houshi-sama," Sango said.

"Me, too, Sango," Miroku agreed as he watched the sad form of the miko from the Heisei jidai, "Me too."


	12. Divide and Conquer

It took Kirara a few minutes to first transform, then catch up and pin InuYasha to the ground to stop him from going off on his own. At first, the hanyou/dog snapped and snarled at everyone, obviously protesting his imprisonment in a very loud and violent way.

"Listen, InuYasha, I know you're worried and upset right now," Miroku told the hanyou when he had calmed down somewhat, "but you're also an animal who can't make himself heard _and _whose already got a track record with the houshi who is going to attack Kikyou. If you go on your own, it's very possible that you could get wounded, or possibly even killed. Then, my friend, you will be no help to anyone." InuYasha had glared daggers at the houshi, but he had finally calmed down enough for Kirara to unpin him. He stood up and went over to the edge of the stairs, bouncing on the tips of his paws and glaring around at everyone in the group.

"Now, Tôjirô-san has a good day's lead on us," Miroku observed, his amethyst eyes deep in thought, "but it is almost night-time. We need to keep our energy at its highest, so we'll camp out at the bottom of the stairs and start out for the city the head houshi spoke of tomorrow morning."

_"That's not good enough! We need to head out NOW!" _InuYasha barked, his hackles rising as he bared his teeth in a feral snarl.

"Calm down, InuYasha," Kagome murmured, her voice carrying only the slightest hint of upset. "I know you...you want to help Kikyou, but you're a dog right now. If you head out tonight, you'll collapse from exhaustion before you even get halfway there. We have to rest."

_'Dammit! I fuckin' HATE being a dog!' _InuYasha snarled to himself. However, he raised no further complaints as he padded over to the shrine's exit, followed closely by Kirara, Sango, Miroku, Shippou and Kagome.

_"Must calm down," _Kirara growled to InuYasha. _"Not think right when mad. Calm down."_

InuYasha just snapped, _"Whatever."_

Kirara sighed, then turned to look at Kagome. As expected, the miko had a determinedly neutral expression that kept slipping to reveal the obvious upset she was holding within herself. Kirara knew from watching the others that trying to point out Kagome's unhappiness to InuYasha would just result in the hanyou emitting a 'Feh!'

They settled down a little ways off of the path, each person getting into their respective sleeping positions and dropping off relatively quickly. InuYasha was so angry and restless that night that he didn't even notice that Kagome set her sleeping bag as far away from him as possible, and faced away from him as she cried herself to sleep. Kirara did, though, and the fire-neko watched the hanyou and miko with worried red eyes.

_'Have bad feeling about this...'_

* * *

Even if InuYasha hadn't been a dog at that moment, Kagome wouldn't have ridden on his back as they started traveling to the city that the old houshi had named as soon as the sun had risen that morning.

Hearing about Kikyou always gave Kagome an unpleasant feeling of jealousy deep within her heart. The seventeen year-old miko _hated _that she was jealous of a dead person, but she couldn't help it; Kagome loved InuYasha, who loved Kikyou more than he loved her. Therefore, Kagome was jealous of Kikyou. However, she was able to hide it relatively well at the best of times.

_'I just wish that she could stop appearing at all the wrong moments,' _Kagome sighed to herself. She looked past Sango's back so she could see the hanyou, who was running like a bat out of hell. The silver dog's muzzle was still clenched in a snarl as he tore through the wild terrain of the forest, slashing and snapping at the foliage that got in his way. Kagome knew that InuYasha was thinking about Kikyou, and the threat that Tôjirô posed to her. Sure, Tôjirô could just go with his animal spell, but really, what could that spell do to one who was already dead? Would it really work, or would it 'kill' her? It was most likely these very questions that were making InuYasha run like the wind itself.

_'I hope he doesn't do anything rash,' _Kagome thought urgently. If InuYasha tried to fight in his current dog-form, there was no question of whether or not he would be subdued easily. Sure, an angry dog could fight well if provoked, but versus a trained houshi and possibly a group of villagers who were riled up by the rumors of a dark miko who controlled youkai? _'InuYasha would stand no chance,' _she thought. _'We have to stay with him and at least __**try**__ to keep him calm.'_

A shout from below broke into Kagome's train of thought. Distracted, she looked down to see Miroku, who was also running on the ground, pointing at InuYasha and trying to shout, "Look!" without InuYasha hearing him. Kagome turned her eyes from Miroku to InuYasha, her curiosity piqued. A small gasp escaped her throat as her hands clenched in the haori she had tied about her waist like a jacket.

The dog running below was changing. The silver fur that covered him was fading away, receding and vanishing all over his body except for the back and front of his head. The 'fur' there grew out in a great silvery cascade, the long strands of hair waving and flowing in the breeze. The dog seemed to push himself off of the ground as he started to run on two legs rather than four. The muzzle shrank and became a normal face, while the paws became hands once more. InuYasha was himself again, although the look on his face suggested that he wasn't paying attention to the fact that he was normal once more.

Usually, Kagome would have been over the moon at the fact that InuYasha had managed to beat the curse again. But, since it was his feelings for Kikyou that had made him transform back, Kagome could honestly say that she wasn't too happy about it. _'I mean, I'm glad that he's a hanyou again, but...but...why can't he ever be thinking about __**me **__when he transforms?'_

Kagome thought back to the other time InuYasha had transformed. He had admitted that he was mad at Kouga, which was the main reason he had transformed back into himself. A contrary voice in the back of her head pointed out that after beating Kouga into a bloody pulp, InuYasha had come back for her, had sat down beside her and comforted her. Kagome pushed the voice away. _'After all, anyone would comfort someone who had almost been raped,' _she told herself. _'I guess...I'll just watch over him and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid.'_

* * *

The old houshi had portrayed the city the young man had come from as being "a rather large city." However, upon their arrival to said city, InuYasha and company could see that the houshi had been completely wrong. It wasn't a rather large city at all. It was an _enormous _city, so massive it seemed to stretch from horizon to horizon no matter which direction you looked in. Shops lined the streets and merchants clogged the roads, jostling for position as they clamored to make themselves heard over the thronging masses. When Kagome looked closely at some of the merchants, she could see that the majority of them were selling ofuda and amulets. She doubted the validity of said talismans, but she knew one thing for certain: all of the merchants' wares were meant to ward off youkai.

"I think this is the place," Kagome told the rest of the group. "The merchants are selling youkai-repelling charms to everyone."

"Very unusual, seeing as most youkai avoid large cities like this," Miroku agreed. "The youkai-controlling 'dark miko' must be terrifying the people out of their wits if they think the samurai can't handle her."

InuYasha growled at them, his eyes narrowing as he spat out, "How can you talk about this so damn _casually? _Don't forget that they hired fuckin' _Tôjirô _to handle this! We've gotta find Kikyou an'-" InuYasha was cut off as a growl of pain reverberated through his throat. His clawed hand flashed up to his chest and clutched it as he swayed on the spot.

"First of all, we've got to move slowly," Miroku corrected him as he moved forth and grasped the hanyou's arm, keeping him upright. "You can't hold your hanyou form forever, remember? Even if you can, it will take tremendous effort on your part to do so. Try to concentrate your energy on staying a hanyou for the time being, and we shall do the rest."

Miroku gestured for Sango and Kagome to come over to them. When the women were close enough, the houshi bent over and started talking in a low voice, so as not to attract the hanyou's attention. (InuYasha would've heard him if the pains weren't coursing through his body.)

"I think the best plan of action would be for us to split up and start looking around the city," Miroku stated. "Sango, I'm going to ask you to stay with InuYasha. It could be crucial at some point to keep him in his current state, so make sure he doesn't overtax himself and get turned back into a dog."

When Sango opened her mouth to ask "Why me?" Miroku cut her off, whispering, "Normally, I would ask Kagome-sama to do this, but...considering the circumstances..." Sango nodded her understanding, then glanced over at Kagome. The miko was looking at nothing in particular, obviously trying to ignore the current track the conversation had taken. Miroku nodded back and turned to Kagome. "Kagome-sama, you and I are going to search around the city for Kikyou-sama's aura, or for signs of Tôjirô-san's arrival. I suggest splitting up and searching by ourselves; we'll be able to cover more area that way," Miroku explained.

"Okay," Kagome mumbled. Her eyes were still fixed on a spot about fifty feet away.

"Hey, what about me?" Shippou complained, and Kirara mewed.

"You two...should stay with Sango and InuYasha. If InuYasha starts transforming back into a dog in public, he's going to cause a riot. You can use your kitsune-youjitsu to confuse everybody while Sango and Kirara get him out of there, all right?" Shippou mulled over the plan Miroku had laid out, then nodded eagerly.

"I'll do my best!" he declared, puffing out his chest and trying his best to look brave and strong. Kirara mewed again, hopping up on Sango's shoulder as she gave Miroku a small nod.

"All right, let's go." Miroku and Kagome walked away, then they each turned in a different direction. Miroku turned back the way they came to start circling around the city, and Kagome turned in the direction of the city's heart, heading for the people and the gossip that was sure to be harvested there.

Sango, meanwhile, started casting her eye about for some sort of rest-house, inn or even a dark alleyway where InuYasha could stay and concentrate on staying hanyou without the hustle and bustle of the city to interfere. She finally saw a likely place between a shop and a small hut, and slowly began to drag InuYasha toward it. "Leggo...need...need to get moving," InuYasha panted, wincing as another pain flashed through his body.

"Not right now, you don't," Sango replied, letting go of his arm as she pushed the hanyou against the wall of the shop. "Right now, you need to concentrate on staying you. You won't be of any help to anybody as a dog," she told him. "Try to think: Why have you turned back now?"

InuYasha tried to straighten up, grimacing as yet another pain went through him. "Kikyou... Kikyou's in danger. Tôjirô's gonna try to hurt her."

"Like when Kouga was threatening Kagome-chan?" Sango asked.

InuYasha growled. "Yeah."

"So...maybe it's because you got angry," Sango wondered.

At that moment, Shippou piped up, saying, "I think it's because he got so angry he forgot he was a dog!"

Sango looked over at the kitsune and raised her eyebrow at him. "That's good thinking, Shippou! If that's so, then make sure InuYasha stays mad. Maybe that'll stop him from transforming back into a dog again."

Shippou nodded eagerly. "Sure, I can do that!" With that, the kitsune bounded up onto InuYasha's shoulder and whispered, "Baka!" in his furry ear.

Shippou leaped off of InuYasha's shoulder, narrowly missing the fist that swung toward him as he did so. InuYasha turned to Shippou, growling, "What was that?"

"Baka, baka, InuYasha!" Shippou sang, dancing from one paw to the other while sticking his tongue out. "You're so dumb, you can't even tell Kikyou from Kagome!"

Sango clapped her hands over her mouth while Kirara growled. Saying something like that was going too far for _anyone, _let alone _Shippou_. Meanwhile, InuYasha had stiffened, his face utterly shocked. His golden eyes rapidly filled with anger as he leaned forward, fangs flashing in an ire-filled grimace. "When I get through with you, kit, your fuckin' _grandchildren _will be born dizzy!" InuYasha leaped forward and began chasing the kitsune down the alley, yelling at the fleeing youkai all the while.

Sango chased after them, Kirara perched precariously on her shoulder as she ran through the dark and twisting alley-ways. "This isn't good at all," Sango muttered to herself. "I hope houshi-sama and Kagome-chan are doing better than we are..."

* * *

Kagome wove her way carefully through the clamoring crowd. After asking around for about fifteen minutes, she had gathered enough information to learn that Tôjirô was now in the city, and that the majority of youkai and 'dark miko' sightings had been on the East side of town, near the forest that surrounded one-half of the city. _'If I can find Kikyou first, maybe I can warn her about Tôjirô...and tell her about InuYasha,' _Kagome thought as she made her way to the East side of town.

That was another thing she had confirmed; whether or not the 'dark miko' in question was, in fact, Kikyou. All of the people she had talked to had described the 'dark miko's' youkai familiars as long-bodied white insects who clasped the dead souls they had stolen in their fragile legs as they flew away to take the souls to their mistress. _'Kikyou's shinidamachuu have been sighted...but why is she hanging around this city?' _Kagome wondered as she ran through the now thinning crowd. (No-one liked to hang around the East side of the city now that the 'dark miko' had set up shop there.) _'I think she usually sends her youkai familiars all over Nippon to look for dead souls...maybe there's some sort of epidemic here, or something. Even then...why here?'_

Kagome slowed to a halt. She had finally arrived on the Eastern outskirts of town, where the rumors said that Kikyou was lurking. Kagome squinted, trying to make out the white bodies of the shinidamachuu, or maybe catch a glimpse of Kikyou herself amongst the dark trees, but she could see nothing save the darkness. _'I've got to keep looking, or else InuYasha's going to try to find her. If he transforms back into a dog and Tôjirô finds him...' _Kagome shuddered at the mental imagery and pushed herself onward, heading slowly and steadily toward the forest.

The young miko didn't see a dark shape stealing up behind her, a long staff adorned with a six-pointed star clutched in its right hand. Slowly, it crept up behind her, raising the staff slowly and steadily over its head, aiming for the back of Kagome's skull. With a sharp _CRACK, _the figure brought the staff down hard on the back of Kagome's head. In an instant, the miko was on the ground, her body as limp as that of a rag doll's. The person stooped down and seized Kagome's arm. Stealing quickly and carefully back into the city, the figure dragged the unconscious woman off into the dark depths of the Eastern alleyways.

* * *

kitsune-youjitsu: fox-magic

shinidamachuu: soul-catchers, soul-collectors, etc.

* * *

_A/N: I am not going to be working very much on _Tall Tails _for a few days, because I have an orchestra concert tonight, which usually pushes my homework time back a few hours. _

_(Also, this Saturday is my birthday!) *throws confetti* =D_

_So, to make a long story short: The next chapter is going to be late due to forseen circumstances._


	13. The Meltdown of the Holy Man

**note from baneofshadow: Hello, everybody! I'm back from my birthday break! I hope this chapter isn't _too _late; I tried to work on it a wee bit while celebrating the fact that I now own every single one of the InuYasha books. =D**

* * *

The sun was starting its descent to the Western horizon as Miroku traipsed back to the place where he had left Sango, Kirara, Shippou and InuYasha. His patrol around the edge of the city had turned up nothing except vague rumors and more merchants trying to sell him useless ofuda and fake amulets. However, he was able to learn that Tôjirô had arrived in the city, which worried him.

_'We need to regroup and confront Tôjirô. I believe that if he's outnumbered, it will be more likely for Tôjirô to agree to anything we ask of him. It's a little bit of an underhanded tactic, but then again, I've never been one to avoid being underhanded...' _Still thinking, Miroku arrived at the place where he had left the others, only to find that his friends were nowhere in sight.

_'What the-?' _Miroku's anxiety-ridden confusion was short-lived, as Sango reappeared a few seconds after he himself had arrived, a very battered and frightened Shippou sitting on one shoulder while Kirara perched on the other. The three of them were followed by InuYasha, who was still in his hanyou form. A scowl darkened the hanyou's face as he threw annoyed glares in the kitsune's direction. Miroku looked from one to the other, slowly piecing things together.

"Did Shippou say something to anger InuYasha?" Miroku asked as he fell into step beside Sango.

"Yes, but only because I told him to make InuYasha mad," Sango replied. At Miroku's confused look, she continued in a low whisper. "We figured out that when InuYasha is feeling a strong emotion, he forgets that he's been turned into a dog, which helps him to revert back into his true form. However, when he starts calming down, the spell starts to reassert itself. So I asked Shippou to make InuYasha mad and he...well, he said, 'You're so stupid, you can't tell Kikyou from Kagome.'"

Miroku winced, and behind them, InuYasha let out a low growl. "Ouch. I can see why InuYasha got so angry."

"Yes, but it worked," Sango pointed out.

"Oww," Shippou whined quietly as his small hands massaged the many knots and bruises on his head, "I just wish I didn't have to get hurt to help him."

Miroku stopped walking when they were in front of an inexpensive inn and looked around, one hand shading his eyes from the glare of the steadily sinking sun. "I don't see Kagome-sama anywhere," he observed. "I wonder where she went."

"Maybe it's just taking her a while to maneuver through the crowd," Sango suggested. "There are a lot of people in this city, after all."

"True," Miroku agreed. "This is a rather large city."

The group stood there for a while, not sure what to do. They knew they should try to find Kagome, but where would they even begin to look?

At that moment, a woman passing by the inn saw them standing there and stopped in the middle of the street. "Don't just stand there in the street like a couple of stuffed crows, ya daft young fools!" she cried. "Haven't you heard about the youkai-controllin' evil woman?"

"Yes," Miroku said tiredly. "We have heard about the dark miko. I don't think she-"

"No, no, no, ya dopey great houshi!" the woman interrupted, waving her hand like she was batting at a swarm of flies. "I mean about the dark miko bein' in the city! A group of men near the dono's mansion saw her talkin' to some of the other young fools like she was one of 'em! O'course, they reported it to the houshi who came to exorcise her, or whatever it is he came to do." The woman gave a theatrical shudder as she concluded her story with, "Until we know for certain whether or not she's been catchered, ya'd better get inside, an' quickly!"

The woman turned and was about to walk away when Miroku called her back. "How do you know she's really the woman the houshi is after?" he asked.

The woman snorted. "The men who saw her near the dono's mansion 'ave seen her before, baka! E'en though she looked a wee bit diff'rent than she did before, they said her face was _exactly the same!"_

InuYasha had, for once, been paying rapt attention to what the passing woman had to say, but this final sentence tore through him like a bullet and echoed over and over in his head. _"...Exactly the same! Exactly the same! Exactly the same! Exactly the same!"_

Then a memory InuYasha had long since buried in the back of his mind bubbled to the forefront of his thoughts, turning the blood running through his veins into ice.

_'...Why, Kagome...'_

_'...Why are you a dead woman's double?'_

* * *

Kagome slowly regained consciousness, her head pounding like a drum as her vision swam steadily back into focus. _'Owwww...' _she groaned, reaching up to clutch her throbbing head. It was only after the third attempt to do so that Kagome realized that she had been hog-tied; her hands had been tied together, then they had been tied to her ankles. It was a painful and humiliating way to be bound, and Kagome hoped she could free herself, or else be rescued and freed by someone else.

_'Wait a second,' _she thought as her pain-muddled brain started pointing out the obvious factor in this situation: Kagome couldn't have knocked herself out and then tied herself up, so the question was-who had? _'Ow...well, it doesn't matter right now...as long as I can get away first!' _Kagome pulled and struggled with her bonds, but the pain radiating through her head made her feel as feeble as a kitten, which, in turn, made the ropes ten times stronger than they should be.

Then the miko heard the sound of footsteps on a wooden floor as somebody-or some_thing_-made its way toward her position. Thinking as best she could with a throbbing headache, Kagome decided the best action was to play dead until another chance came for her escape. So the miko relaxed her body and closed her eyes, trying to ignore the pounding in her head as she listened for whoever was coming.

There was the sound of a shoji door sliding open, then the footsteps, much closer now, entered the room. Kagome made sure she was absolutely motionless as the footsteps drew nearer and nearer.

"As you can see, dono, I have caught the dark miko who has been plaguing your city." If Kagome hadn't been trying to keep her body limp, she probably would have frozen at the sound of the voice. Tôjirô? What was Tôjirô doing here? And why was he calling her a 'dark miko?'

"A-are you sure? I find it hard to believe that in only a few short hours, you've caught the dark miko who has been haunting our city and evading my best samurai!" This voice sounded much older than Tôjirô, and, judging by the title that Tôjirô had addressed him with, this man was the lord of the city, and possibly the region too. But why did he think she was a dark miko? Kagome's aching brain struggled to come up with a solution. There had to be _something, _some reason that he would think-

Then, as inevitably as a falling meteor, the answer hit her, so obvious and simple it made Kagome feel as dumb as a rock for not thinking of it earlier. Ever since she had come to the Sengoku jidai, everyone who had met Kikyou had always marveled at how much they resembled each other. Someone had even observed that they could have been twin sisters, a thought that, to this day, made Kagome shudder. However, the important part, no matter how much Kagome didn't want to admit it, was that she _did_ look an awful lot like Kikyou. And, if the hype about a 'dark miko' was anything to go by, some of these people had to have seen Kikyou at some point and spread the story around to the others.

_'Someone must have seen me while I was out talking to the others, and if they'd seen Kikyou before, they would think that __**I **__was Kikyou, since we...we look so similar. Then...then...' _Kagome felt a shudder crawl slowly down her spine as she thought of what she would do if she had seen a convicted murderer in her own era. _'Then they would go to the one person who would be able to do something about it and tell them what they had seen...and the person in this case...' _Kagome suppressed another shudder as she felt the houshi's inquisitive stare fall upon her face. _'...Would be the person hired to take care of Kikyou...the houshi Tôjirô.'_

The houshi's voice chose that moment to break into Kagome's now less painful thoughts. "Don't think you can fool _me_, you little bitch," it announced. "I can see that you're conscious."

For a split-second, Kagome wondered how the houshi could have possibly known she was awake. Then she thought about how she had struggled to free herself before Tôjirô had entered the room. From the feel of her wrists, she had gotten bad rope burns from the effort her weak struggles had put upon her bonds. Not only that, but she had moved a considerable amount during her efforts to free herself. A smart person, or, at least, an observant person like Tôjirô, would notice right away that she had moved, or maybe even that her once-clear wrists were now red and flayed-looking.

"Open your eyes and look into the face of your executioner, bitch!" Tôjirô brought his foot down hard upon Kagome's stomach. Kagome gasped and coughed, her eyes flying wide open as the houshi's foot violently pushed all of the air out of her body. She gagged and retched, trying hard to suck down oxygen while also battling the pain of her most likely bruised stomach.

"_Now _you will suffer for the pain you have brought down on the good people of this city!" Tôjirô declared, brandishing the staff with the six-pointed star on its top in her direction. The lord, Kagome noticed, was now edging slowly away from Tôjirô like the houshi was a rabid dog. The miko fervently wished she could do the same.

Now that she was conscious and her head no longer felt like it had booked a troupe of particularly exuberant tap-dancers, Kagome was able to dissern what Tôjirô looked like for the first time since she had learned of him back in the village where InuYasha had attacked him. Tôjirô wore houshi's robes that looked rather like the ones Miroku wore, although his were red rather than purple, and they were a little more frayed, like the houshi had been wearing them for a very long time.

However, that was where the similarities ended. Tôjirô was as bald as an egg, although it was hard to tell because of the sugegasa he wore. His face was creased with small wrinkles that age and hours upon hours in the sun had bestowed upon him.

But it was his eyes that made Kagome wish she could run away. Tôjirô's gray eyes were filled to the brim with _loathing; _a deep, soul-poisoning hatred that danced on the border between reason and insanity. It was like looking into two gray pools of shouki, and Kagome found herself badly shaken by the intensity of those seething gray orbs. _'They say the eyes are the windows of the soul...but I wish some souls would close their shutters,' _Kagome thought with another shudder, then winced as the movement jarred her hurt stomach.

"I can't stand those who fall from the grace of the Kami," Tôjirô growled at her, prodding her chest with his staff, "Those who consort with the darkest evils that lurk in this world and use them to their advantage, those who hurt others to gain power? You make me _SICK!_"

Kagome swallowed a few breaths of air, then managed to say, "I'm not...not the one you want. And besides, there is no dark miko near th-" Tôjirô silenced her next few words by slamming his staff down hard on Kagome's chest. Kagome nearly screamed with pain as a searing fire burned the insides of her ribs.

_'Dear Kami,' _she thought, once again dazed with pain, _'The force of his hate is so strong, I can even feel it in his attacks...it's almost like youki, except it's...well, not.'_

"Don't think you can twist my mind with your lies," Tôjirô snarled. "I am wise to the ways of those such as _you._" Kagome didn't respond. Tears of pain blurred her vision as she felt the aching bruise slowly rise up on her rib-cage.

"You know, houshi-sama," the lord muttered, glancing from Tôjirô to Kagome and back again, "This woman doesn't look like a dark miko to me." Kagome switched her gaze from Tôjirô to the lord, her brown eyes pleading with him to reason with the houshi and try to free her. The tears that she had been trying to contain started trailing down her face.

"Please," she moaned, curling up like a hedgehog as she tried to bring her knees to her chest as some sort of protection.

"Be silent, you youkai-loving traitor!" Tôjirô's staff smashed down twice more, first on her back, and then on her leg. Kagome let out a wail of pain; the second blow had badly bruised her fibula, and it _hurt. _

"For Kami's sake, Tôjirô-san, she's just a girl!" the lord cried, his eyes fixated on the crumpled miko in front of him. "She looks no older than my own daughter! Please, have some mercy, man!"

"Those who befriend youkai and murder humans don't deserve mercy!" Tôjirô declared. "I think you need to leave, dono. This dark miko is obviously getting to you if you are thinking such thoughts."

The lord stiffened, insulted by the houshi's almost contemptuous words. But he turned around without complaint and began stalking toward the shoji doors. Right before he left, the lord murmured, "I may not be able to deal with youkai, but I am still dono here. I can throw you out if you cause too much trouble, Tôjirô." The lord slowly glided out of the room, leaving Tôjirô alone with Kagome.

"Huh! I am no ordinary human. I have powers most humans couldn't master in their wildest dreams," Tôjirô snorted, utter contempt lacing his voice. Then he turned his attention back to Kagome. "Dark miko, don't think that you can count on the dono's protection to save you. I will destroy your powers and render your body useless, of that you can be certain."

Tôjirô paused, his eyes running over her body with a shrewd and practiced eye. Kagome shivered, remaining silent for the time being, but unable to repress her feelings at having those hate-filled eyes roving over her body like that. "What odd garments you have," Tôjirô mused, reaching down to take a handful of Kagome's shirt, ripping the cloth away in a large chunk so he could hold it up to his face and examine it. "What manner of dark miko wears clothes like this?" He tossed the chunk of shirt to the side so he could start fingering her skirt. An expression of deep disgust slowly spread over his face as he toyed with the fabric. "Don't tell me you are a _whore _as well as a dark miko...although I wouldn't be surprised if you were. You seem like the kind of..." Tôjirô trailed off. His hand had fallen upon the red haori that Kagome still had tied around her waist.

_'Oh, Kami, please don't let him recognize it,' _Kagome pleaded to the wooden ceiling. _'I don't care what happens next, don't let him find out about InuYasha!' _However, the miko's pleas were not answered.

"I recognize _this,_" Tôjirô snarled, tugging at the haori as a deep, dark anger started churning in his gray eyes, twisting his face until it was horrible to behold. "That filthy youkai in the forest was wearing this when he broke my master Chikanaka's dokko! You _know _of him, then!" Tôjirô flung the sleeve of the haori he had been holding down and stood up, his entire face now a twisted mask of pure rage and hatred. "So is _that_ what you are? A little slut of a miko who fucks youkai in order to gain power? You are utterly beneath the contempt of _any _civilized person, let alone _my own._" Tôjirô's staff flashed again, hitting her hard in the chest once more. A dry _SNAP _and a fresh wave of excruciating pain told Kagome that Tôjirô had broken one of her ribs. She bit down on wail of pain, tears springing into her eyes again.

"How did you break the spell that I put on that youkai?" Tôjirô demanded, kicking her again. "That spell was unbreakable, and should have remained so. Don't tell me you've resorted to fucking _animals _as well as youkai. Speak! Speak or be slain!"

Kagome feebly shook her head. Her whole body, from the crown her head to the tips of her toes, was one giant mass of pain. If _thinking _was enough to hurt her, how could she hope to even speak? _'I...I can't take much more of this...'_

Tôjirô was backing away from her now, his breathing coming in steadily slowing pants. It looked like the houshi was trying to calm himself down. "I must remember what my master taught me," he told himself in a stage whisper. "'All humans, even humans who have fallen from the path of the Kami, deserve a chance at life.' So...even though I would rather you burn in the pits of Hell for all eternity...I will spare your life. But," he said, face hardening once more,"Don't think that means I will let you go free without _any _repercussions. You are still a dark miko, and as such, I _will_ punish you."

Kagome screwed up all of her concentration to grit one sentence out from between her lips in a barely audible whisper: "Listen to me; you've got...got the wrong person."

Tôjirô's face looked thunderstruck for a split second before it went stony again. "What do you mean, 'the wrong person?' Are you trying to weasel your way out of this by saying that someone _else _did all the atrocities you've been convicted of? A childish trick _at best._" Tôjirô reached down and seized the front of Kagome's shirt, dragging her to her knees since her arms and legs were still bound with the rope. "Did you forget the people who have _seen _you? The people who saw you _today _with a group of youkai? There is nothing that you can say that will make me believe your innocence, because I know you to be a youkai-fucking, human-killing, yami-loving miko!" With that, Tôjirô began to drag Kagome out of the room, completely ignoring her yelps of pain as he thrust the shoji door open and shoved her through it.

"We shall go to the temple; in there I will not fear the retribution of your youkai lovers as I cast the spell that will seal your powers for all time!" Tôjirô roared as he continued to drag the young miko away.

Kagome closed her eyes, resigned to what was now inevitable. One last tear fell down her cheek to be lost in the raven-blackness of her hair.

_'Kami...how could this have happened?'_

* * *

sugegasa-a conical hat made of straw that is used to keep the sun and rain out of one's face

yami-darkness


	14. Tôjirô's Sinister Spells

_'How could this have fuckin' happened?' _InuYasha ignored the frequent cries of his friends as he tore through the city, not paying any attention to the screams and gasps as the people in the streets caught a glimpse of the runaway hanyou. _'Baka! Baka, baka baka!' _he cursed, mentally berating himself over and over. How could he have been so blind?

As soon as Kikyou had been sighted by the humans of this city, she would have left the area immediately, for there was one person and one person only on her 'people-to-keep-alive' list, and that person was Kikyou herself. Not only that, but most of the people in the city hadn't even seen Kikyou, they were just freaking out because whoever _had_ seen her had started telling tall tales about her. Rumors had a way of spreading like wildfire, and soon the whole city had been buzzing with whispers of youkai. The samurai had searched for her, but of course there was nothing for them to find. Kikyou had long since been gone from the place. Regardless of the fact that he had never seen her, the malcontent of the people had prompted the lord of the region to send for a houshi-the houshi Tôjirô, to be specific.

Still, the final nail in InuYasha's coffin of stupidity was the fact that he had unthinkingly brought Kikyou's reincarnation into a city where the undead miko was feared, and not just that, but _he let her go off by herself. _Of course someone would catch sight of her, and, thinking that they were seeing the dark miko, would tell Tôjirô about her before they were hurt (and, of course, to get the credit for turning in the controller of youkai who had been 'terrorizing' their city).

_'If Tôjirô has done __**anything **__to her, I swear I won't rest until I crack his head open, fuckin' houshi!' _InuYasha mentally roared. If Tetsusaiga hadn't been hanging at his hip, the hanyou would surely have gone full-youkai in his anger and loathing toward the houshi. _'Damn him!'_

Behind him, InuYasha could hear the sounds of his friends as they frantically followed him, yelling something which was lost amidst the pounding of the blood in his ears. _'I can't stop for anything! I have to, HAVE TO find Kagome before that fuckin' houshi does something to her!'_

But where would he even start to look? When Kagome and Miroku had first started searching for signs of Tôjirô or Kikyou, InuYasha had been fighting off the spell that would mean his transformation back into a dog, so he hadn't exactly been paying attention to the direction she was going. In addition the sheer population size of this city meant that Kagome's scent trail was buried under hundreds, maybe even _thousands_ of different scent-trails that each and every individual exuded. Trying to sort through them all would waste time InuYasha knew he didn't have.

_'Damn it all,' _InuYasha cursed, leaping into the air and clearing several startled merchants at once. _'What do I do? Where do I go?' _

Then an idea came to the hanyou, an idea that probably should have come to him earlier. Kagome had last been seen near the castle. Additionally, the lord of the region was the one who had hired Tôjirô to get rid of the 'dark miko.' Continuing on that line of thought, Tôjirô would go to the castle first to present the 'dark miko' he had captured to the lord. And, since the day was rapidly descending into evening, most of the inhabitants of the city were starting to go home, meaning that InuYasha would have a much easier time sifting through fresh and stale scents than before, now that the throngs of humanity were thinning.

_'Maybe I can get a lead there!' _he thought wildly, darting over to the large ancestral castle that dominated a quarter of the city's landscape.

After he made it to the castle, InuYasha made a quick circle around its perimeter, sniffing around for some sign of either Kagome or Tôjirô. When he arrived at the Southern side of the castle, the sun had sunken fully, and only the crimson glow from the red-light district could really be seen in the darkened city.

"Dammit!" InuYasha cursed, punching the wall of the castle as he sank to his knees. "I'm not getting anywhere!" Never in his _life _had his nose been so confused! The scents around the castle were so diverse, so different, so salty...

_'Hang on-salty?' _InuYasha sniffed again, ears flattening to his skull as he sank to his knees, hands on the ground as he snuffled like the dog the spell forced him to transform into. There it was again! The scent of salt! _'So familiar...' _he thought, his brow furrowing in concentration as his head dropped even lower, his nose almost touching the ground as he sniffed again.

A memory surfaced as the hanyou focused on the scent of salt. A memory of Kagome, looking down on his human form when his mortal body had been wracked with poisons, two streams of pearly tears trailing down her cheeks._'This is...the scent of Kagome's tears!' _InuYasha realized, his golden eyes jerking open as his muscles locked. Now that he was on his hands and knees, InuYasha could tell that the ground around the Southern entrance of the castle was permeated with the smell of Kagome's tears, and, lingering around some scuff-marks was the smell of blood.

_Blood. _InuYasha felt his hackles rising as his lips drew back to reveal his fangs in a feral snarl. Tôjirô had wounded Kagome. Oh yes, he knew it was the houshi who had done it; that damn bastard's scent was stronger around the scuff-marks than Kagome's. Judging by the way the footprints around and through the scuff-marks were positioned, InuYasha guessed that Tôjirô had _dragged _Kagome out of the castle.

"You won't get away with this, you bastard," InuYasha snarled, following the scent as swiftly as he could, given his crouched position. "You mess with _her, _you mess with _me!_"

* * *

Deep within a temple located in the city's heart, Tôjirô was drawing something on the floor with what looked like a piece of old charcoal. As he penned out each symbol, he muttered something under his breath, his opposite hand curled up into a fist with the middle and index fingers held out as he worked. Kagome watched him from the altar under which she had been placed. Tôjirô hadn't bothered to gag her when he moved her from the castle to the temple, but then again, he really didn't need to. The pain of Kagome's most likely bruised bone in her leg and her most definitely broken rib was enough to keep her still and silent. Even her breathing was more quiet than it usually was, since breathing regularly jarred her broken rib and made her convulse in pain.

_'Kami, someone please free me from this hell,' _she thought, a tear sliding down her face to disappear into the faded wooden grain of the floor.

"Feeling sorry for yourself, are you?" Tôjirô asked as he rose from the floor. "If you think you can bemoan your way into freedom, don't count on it. I've never been one for pity."

"Why..." Kagome whispered, screwing up her face as she tried to ignore the pain in her chest. "Why...can't you...listen? Why...can't you show...some...mercy?"

Tôjirô's eyes flashed as he picked up his staff and brandished it at her. "Mercy? _Mercy? _I, Tôjirô, should show a cock-sucking youkai fucker like you _mercy?_" The rage in Tôjirô's eyes was mounting to that point between reason and insanity again as he shouted, "Like the _mercy _the youkai showed my mother when they raped and murdered her? Like the _mercy _my kind old master Chikanaka received when the youkai attacked him and ripped his head off? Or like the _mercy_ the youkai show to _each _and _every _human they happen to come across? Is _that _what you want from me? Do you want to feel what forty years of hating youkai can do to my _mercy_?"

Kagome tried not to shiver, but it was a hard thing to not do. Never in her _life _had she imagined such a warped person could become a man of the cloth, and yet, here he was, standing over her, his eyes filled with twisted rage and hatred. The speech said holy man had just delivered removed all of the hope from Kagome's heart. There was no way on Earth Tôjirô was going to free her if he knew she consorted with youkai, and why would he? He had seen so many terrible things, it was hard not to feel what he felt.

_'Although,' _Kagome thought, a deep crimson blush spreading over her cheeks, _'What I am to InuYasha...is totally and completely wrong! I-I mean...I would never...could never...' _The thought was cut short when Kagome received yet another blow to her body, this time on her right arm. She whimpered, biting her lip as the sharp edge of the star cut her upper arm, causing blood to soak her sleeve as it trailed down in a small crimson river.

"It is time, dark miko. Time for you to be rendered worthless," Tôjirô announced, dragging Kagome to her knees as he stared down into her brown eyes. "Now you will see what true weakness feels like!" Tôjirô threw Kagome with all his strength, leaping away as he did so and placing his staff firmly on the ground. Kagome landed with a pained cry right in the middle of the charcoal circle, just as Tôjirô raised his hand and began to chant. Both the star on his staff and the circle beneath Kagome began to glow an eerie blue.

At first, Kagome thought it wouldn't work. After all, most spells didn't work on her, right? Then the blue light of the circle beneath her turned into blue lightning, arching over and _into _her body. The bolts were white-hot, burning the miko to the depths of her soul. A pain twisted through her, a terribly fearsome pain that made her scream in agony. It was akin to being dumped in a vat of Naraku's shouki, while at the same time having her insides twisted up by a giant screwdriver. The miko wailed again, her body convulsing horribly, the ropes holding her snapping like dandelion stems under the strain of her writhing body.

Tôjirô's gray eyes were as hard as two shards of flint as he straightened his back, looking down at the screaming and writhing miko beneath him with the utmost contempt. "Feel the pain, bitch," he snarled softly. "Feel the pain of your body becoming that of an animal's!"

* * *

InuYasha was still following the scent of Tôjirô and Kagome's blood, his nose practically pressed to the ground as he faithfully tailed the houshi and miko, when it happened. A piercing scream ripped through the night, tearing through the peace and tranquility like the Kaze-no-Kizu ripped through youkai. People rushed out of the huts and houses that lined the streets, looking left and right with terrified looks on their faces as the screaming grew louder.

InuYasha's delicate dog-ears were almost overwhelmed by the pain-filled howls reverberating through the city. He wanted to clap his hands over his ears and hunker down until the noise abated, but he couldn't. He couldn't, not when Kagome was screaming in pain like this.

"FUCKER!" he roared, ears flattening to his head as he leaped up, soaring through the air as he sought out the source of the terrible sounds. _'What the fuck is he DOING to her?' _Anger and anguish lent their power to the hanyou, making him much faster than he was normally. His legs were a scarlet blur beneath him, his hair a silver storm cloud about his head. _'Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck FUCK!'_

A small temple loomed in his nearly reddened vision. The screams were louder than ever now, cutting through his ears like a thousand tiny knives. InuYasha charged forth, his head maddened by the sounds of Kagome's pain, as well as the smell of blood that leaked out from the cracks in the temple door.

_CRACKABOOM!_

Tôjirô was nearly blasted off of his feet as the temple door exploded into hundreds of sharp splinters, several of which tore through his clothes and his skin, leaving tiny trails of blood all over his body. The houshi whipped about, cursing as the blue lightning surrounding Kagome's body abated, interrupted by the storm of splinters.

"Who dares to interrupt me while I exorcise this evil woman?" Tôjirô shouted, his face going impossibly red with anger as his hands clutched his staff so hard that the veins stood out, blue against his white skin. "Who dares to stop me?"

"Shut up, you fuckin' great windbag!" A fist flew out of the dark hole that had once been the doorway, catching Tôjirô in the cheek and sending him spinning into a statue of the Buddha. InuYasha ignored the houshi's groans as he sped toward the girl lying on the floor. His anger grew to an impossible depth when he got close enough to see how she was curled up, blood seeping out of a wound on her arm. Other than that, she looked unharmed.

_'But she was definitely in pain...what was he doing to her?' _he wondered, picking her up and cradling her in his arms. She curled up to him, whimpering softly as the tears continued to trail down her face. "What has that mother fuckin' houshi done to you, Kagome?" InuYasha growled, his hand traveling slowly from her waist to her chest, where a chunk of her shirt was missing, some coagulated blood marring the edges of the missing piece. Bruises marked the visible parts of her back and legs, and there was that wound...

_'Damned fucker was BEATING her!' _he yowled in his mind, ears flat against his skin as his rage was rekindled. Slowly, InuYasha got up, placing Kagome safely down on the floor.

The hanyou was about to go beat the snot out of the houshi when something caught his eye; something near Kagome that was not Kagome had moved. He looked down, tensing, ready to fight the...whatever it might be. The 'whatever it might be' was a coal-black, furry snake-looking thing, lying perpendicular to Kagome's butt as it moved slowly over the ground. InuYasha pounced, pinning it to the ground as he lifted one hand to kill it. Kagome let out a cry of pain as she stirred restlessly, her eyes darting about beneath their lids.

"Sorry," he muttered, jerking back as he released the black thing from the prison of his hand. It flicked and tucked itself closer to Kagome, almost like...almost like... _'Almost like a __**tail**__,' _InuYasha thought.

Before the thought could go any further, his ears twitched as a shiver of awareness ran down his spine. InuYasha leaped aside, grabbing Kagome as Tôjirô's staff whistled past the spot where his head had been, landing with a _thunk_ in the wooden floor as the houshi lunged forth from the shadows of the dark temple. "How dare you, youkai," Tôjirô growled, using one of his sleeves to wipe away the blood from a wound on his head, "How _dare _you try to interfere with my work! First you break my dokko and cause me to have to find a new weapon, _then _you humiliate me in front of an entire village by _attacking me, _and _now _you stop me from exorcising your evil little _whore? _Your gall is never-ending!"

InuYasha snarled at the houshi, ears flattening to his head as he gritted out, "What do you _mean, _how do _I _dare? How _dare _**_you_** attack Kagome, you bastard! How _DARE _you call her such foul names! I don't know what kind of a houshi you are, but only a _coward _would resort to turning youkai into animals for the sole purpose of making them _weak!_"

Tôjirô's eyes narrowed at the insults, but he seemed to contain his anger as he eyed InuYasha with the disinterested expertise of one who studies bugs for a living. "One thing I must know...how are you fighting my spell? How can you stand there as a youkai and not as a filthy mongrel like my spell should make you be?" Tôjirô asked, his hands twisting almost nervously on his staff.

"How should I know? Maybe you're gettin' weaker in your old age, jijii," InuYasha taunted, tucking Kagome closer to his chest as he edged toward the door. _'If I can just get Kagome to safety...I don't even care if my spell's broken, as long as she's safe...'_

Tôjirô saw what InuYasha was doing and moved to block him. "You won't escape me so easily, you-" Tôjirô cut himself off, his eyes widening as something seemed to dawn on him. "You're...not a youkai," Tôjirô gasped, his eyes as round as coins as he stared at InuYasha. "How could I have missed something so obvious?" The houshi moved back, holding his staff in both hands as the anger returned to his face. "No...you're even _worse _than a youkai, you...you..._filthy, dirty hanyou!_"

InuYasha's growl returned full force to his throat, his eyes narrowing and his ears flattening further as he glared daggers at the houshi across from him. "Care to repeat that, _bastard_?" he hissed through clenched fangs.

"So _that's _why the spell is wavering," Tôjirô mused, completely ignoring him. "It was meant for a full-blooded youkai, not a mistake of nature like _you._" Tôjirô straightened, his eyes contemptuous as he glared at InuYasha with what was unmistakeably loathing in his gaze. "After all, most hanyou do the world a favor and die off after birth, if they're not _drowned _by those decent enough to care for the future of humanity. So unfortunate that the bitch who birthed you couldn't do the same."

"Y'know what?" InuYasha managed to snarl, his entire body trembling with ill-suppressed rage as he slowly lowered Kagome to the ground. "I don't usually kill humans, but _you..._" InuYasha didn't even finish the sentence as he leaped at the houshi, teeth bared and claws outstretched.

"You are a fool to think you can even _touch_ me!" Tôjirô swung his staff about to meet the hanyou's wild charge. InuYasha brought his hands forth and caught the staff before it could hit him in the chest. He grunted as the spiritual power within the weapon started to burn his hands, but InuYasha held on tight, determined to break the houshi's weapon in two. Since it was the six-pointed star atop the staff that had made him into a dog, surely breaking it would cause the spell upon him to be broken for good.

However, it was not to be. Tôjirô stared down at him, smirking as his eyes glinted malevolently. "Do you honestly think that you can defeat _me _by grabbing my staff?" The star atop the staff started glowing with blue light as Tôjirô started chanting. InuYasha's body froze like it had in the forest as the light slowly moved over his body. The twisting was curling through him again, more painful than ever before.

_'NO! You WILL NOT curse me again!' _InuYasha focused all of his power into destroying Tôjirô's staff, sweat breaking out on his face as he gritted his teeth, concentrating on moving the hands on Tôjirô's staff before they turned back into useless paws and he was no longer able to stand.

With a great roar of anger and pain, the hanyou managed to push the staff away and shoved the houshi with all of his strength. Tôjirô shot backward and crashed through the wall, the wood splintering as his back smashed through the temple and sent him tumbling into the streets. InuYasha collapsed, panting, a painful sort of numbness spreading through his body as he fought the sudden exhaustion that ran through his entire being.

_'Kami dammit,' _he thought, sinking onto his haunches as he started licking one of his burned silver paws. _'I'm glad that's-' _With a sudden dread, he realized what he was doing. InuYasha held out the paw he had been licking, studying it with a sinking feeling in his stomach. _"Dammit!" _InuYasha howled, his muzzle rising to the ceiling as he yowled to the uncaring sky. _"Why the fuck am I back like this AGAIN?"_

A low moan suddenly rose from his left. Turning to the side, InuYasha could see Kagome stirring on the ground, rising into an upright position as her hands clutched her head. InuYasha darted over to her, cursing himself for forgetting Kagome for even a second. _"Kagome, are you all right?" _he asked anxiously, not caring if Kagome understood him or not. His tail wagged frantically behind him as he fixed her with a concerned golden stare.

"Don't worry, Inu. I'm fine," Kagome groaned. "Can you get the number of the bus that ran me over?"

InuYasha cocked his head, wondering what the hell she meant by that before remembering that she had used the expression once before when she'd had a headache. _"Yeah, well, I'm glad to see you're..." _InuYasha tailed off as a thought occurred belatedly to him. _"Kagome...you can understand me?" _he asked, confused.

"Well, you're not exactly mumbling, InuYasha," Kagome told him. She looked just as confused as he felt.

_"I know that, but...fuck, I'm a dog right now! How can you understand me?" _he practically shouted, a bark exiting his mouth as he jumped a few inches in the air.

Kagome looked shocked. "You're...Kami, you're right! How can I...I..." Kagome trailed off, her hands slowly moving from her face to her head as she slowly massaged her skull. A screech of horror exited her mouth, causing InuYasha to leap back in shock, growling slightly as he remonstrated her for her scream.

_"What the fuck was that fo-"_

"What has that houshi _done _to me?" Kagome wailed, her hands clamped on her head as something writhed agitatedly behind her. InuYasha's eye was caught by the movement, and he could see the black thing again, wiggling about as Kagome whimpered and clamped her hands to her head.

_"Oh, SHIT."_

The black thing was indeed a tail, a cat's tail which peeked out of the bottom of Kagome's skirt as it waved about like a flag. Also, Kagome's hands were trying to mask the two coal black cat-ears that perched on her head, much like InuYasha's dog-ears did when he was normal, except the cat ears were larger and slightly more flimsy-looking than his dog-ears. Tôjirô hadn't managed to completely transform Kagome, but the spell hadn't been entirely ineffective, either.

_"Kagome..." _InuYasha whined as he pushed his cold nose into Kagome's stomach, _"What the fuck has that houshi DONE to you?"_

* * *

_A/N: Kagome's transformation is very partially based off of the doujinshi _Neko Moe. _Good manga, but VERY not safe for work._


	15. Learning to Adjust Once Again

**note from baneofshadow: *****puts on best Hank Green voice***

**KAGOME HAS NOT BEEN TURNED INTO A HANYOU!**

**When Tôjirô tried to put the spell on Kagome, InuYasha interrupted him in time to keep Kagome from transforming into a cat, but he managed to give her cat ears and a tail. Kagome is still a human; she just has a few kitty aspects to her appearance now. **

**(In other words, she just **_**looks **_**like a hanyou.)**

* * *

Tôjirô slowly eased himself off the patch of ground where he had landed after the hanyou had shoved him. Everything seemed to be in working order, even though he was bleeding profusely from all of the cuts the splinters had given him, not to mention the bruises and sprains the hanyou had given him with that last shove of his. Tôjirô looked down at his staff. The haft was cracked slightly, but other than that, it was unharmed. The houshi guessed that the hanyou he had fought had been rapidly weakening, and hadn't been able to exert the full strength of his youkai side on the staff by the time the little worm had gained the inner strength necessary to push him away. Still, Tôjirô was injured, and he had failed to exorcise the dark miko.

"You miserable little half-breed," Tôjirô hissed as his free hand tried to staunch a particularly bad wound on his upper arm. "I'll make you regret doing this, of that you can be certain."

Tôjirô was smart enough to know that he was too hurt to fight properly, however. _'I will have to find a safe place to heal, somewhere where I'll still be under the protection of the Kami. The dark miko will have to wait for another time...we shall see, evil ones. We shall see...' _With that thought resounding in his head, Tôjirô slowly rose to his feet, using his staff as a sort of cane to support his weakened legs beneath him. Gritting his teeth at the protest of his muscles, Tôjirô carefully began to walk into the shadows of the night, intent on finding somewhere safe to rest and regain the energy he had lost on.

_'I shall return, hanyou and dark miko. I shall return.'_

* * *

Inside the temple where Tôjirô had been keeping Kagome, InuYasha was having a hard time comforting the cat-eared miko while also trying to contain his own disbelief. Kagome was very upset at the prospect of having 'different' ears and a tail, and InuYasha thought he could understand that. The only problem he had with Kagome's distress was that Kagome was voicing it in a very loud and shrill way.

"I can't _believe _this!" she yowled, fingering her ears as her tail flicked about behind her. "How the hell am I supposed to go to school _like this? _They won't let me in if they think I'm in costume, or worse, they'll try to pull them off and discover they're attached..." Kagome took in a deep breath, then continued on with her almost frightened babble. "And what about Mama, Souta and Jii-chan? What will _they _thi-"

_"Kagome!" _InuYasha barked, finally tired of her little rant. _"Calm down, Kagome! I need you t-"_

"Calm down? CALM DOWN?" Kagome shrieked, her voice sounding oddly catlike as it increased in volume. "How can I calm down when I HAVE CAT EARS AND A TAIL, INUYASHA?"

InuYasha opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again, and closed it once more when nothing came to him. _"Dammit, you've got a point there," _he conceded. After all, InuYasha supposed that if he got mad at being turned into a dog, Kagome _would_ freak about being turned into a cat, even if it was only partial.

"Oh, what am I going to do, InuYasha?" Kagome moaned, her hands clamping down more firmly onto her head, squishing her ears beneath her palms.

_'Ouch,' _InuYasha thought with a wince. He couldn't help thinking that squishing one's ears to one's head had to hurt a little bit. (He had done it himself, on occasion.) Still, he hoped Kagome would calm down soon before her hysteria mounted much higher.

_"Kagome, I know it's hard, but you really need to calm down," _InuYasha said, nuzzling one of her arms with his nose. _"People are gonna notice if you keep yowling like this. It's...it's really not so bad, anyway. At least __**you **__have a human body."_

Kagome gave a small hiccup, but removed her hands from her head, letting her new black ears unfurl fully for the first time since discovering them. "I...I guess that's true," she admitted, her tail flicking out behind her. She reached out a hand and patted his head. "You've got it much worse than I do. I shouldn't feel sorry for myself."

InuYasha shrugged. _"Don't worry, I was pretty upset about it too when I was first turned into a dog. I didn't even know how to walk and shit."_

Kagome looked at him, her ears involuntarily flattening to her head. "I'm sorry, that must have been so hard for you. I bet...I bet I didn't make it any better by treating you like a dog, huh?"

_"Th-there's no need to feel ashamed, Kagome!" _InuYasha barked, blushing beneath his fur as he gave Kagome the best reassuring look he could while he still possessed a muzzle. _"I-I mean, what were you supposed to think?"_

Kagome sniffled again. "I...I...forgive me, but I thought you had gone...gone to Kikyou."

InuYasha snorted. _"Yeah, fuckin' heard you the first five hundred times you told me."_

Kagome stiffened slightly, her ears unfurling as her tail went still. "Oh, fuck," she swore, almost too softly for InuYasha to hear.

He did hear her, though, and almost recoiled in shock. If there was one thing Kagome never did, it was swear. _'I...I hope I didn't just say something I really shouldn't have...' _he thought, edging a little ways away from her just in case.

"I completely forgot about telling you about that," Kagome murmured. "I...I suppose you're really angry at me right now, huh?"

_"Not angry...just fuckin' confused! How could you think so little of me?" _InuYasha asked, tail writhing agitatedly behind him.

Kagome fixed him with a piercing stare, her own tail giving one flick as she stated, "You haven't exactly given me any evidence to the contrary, InuYasha."

The hanyou/dog winced. _'She's got me there,' _he thought, slightly irritated. What _was_ Kagome supposed to think, seeing as he hurried to the undead miko's side as soon as he heard her name fall from someone's lips? What _was_ she supposed to think when he ignored her to pursue the woman he had once loved? That thought brought back the shame InuYasha had pushed aside after his brief fight with Tôjirô; the fact that if he had been protecting Kagome like he should have been, she wouldn't have gotten kidnapped, beaten, and almost transformed into a cat.

_"I'm sorry," _InuYasha said, whining slightly as he placed his head in her lap. _"If...if I had been there for you, this wouldn't have happened."_

Kagome gave one humorless chuckle as she reached down to pet his ears. "If you had been there for me, it would've been twice as bad, InuYasha. Not only would Tôjirô have cursed you again, but he might have...might have..." Her voice trailed off as tears started streaking down her face.

InuYasha, who hadn't been expecting Kagome to cry, started freaking out and yapped, _"Aw, fuck, no-shit, Kagome, stop crying! I-I didn't mean to make you cry! Anyway, __**I'm **__the one who failed you, not...well, you!"_

Kagome ignored him and just let her emotions take control for a while, sobbing quietly into her hands while the hanyou next to her tried to comfort her by nuzzling her hand and licking her cheek, becoming more and more flustered when she continued to weep. Days and days of pent-up emotions were flooding out of the young miko, and there was nothing for the hanyou to do except wait for the tide to recede back to the sea. Eventually, Kagome's sobs faded into hiccups, her hands moving to wipe the last few tears from her cheeks. The coal-black tail behind her stopped writhing about like an agitated snake and sat almost motionless at her side, only twitching occasionally.

"Sorry," she murmured, taking a pink hankie out of her skirt pocket (_'How the fuck can that tiny thing fit any pockets?' _InuYasha wondered) and used it to dry her face. "I just...had to let it all out, you know?"

InuYasha didn't know, but he decided that if this meant that Kagome had calmed down, then it was a good thing. _"I guess so," _he said.

Kagome gave him a wobbly smile before pushing herself to her feet, her tail fanning out behind her like a scarf in the wind as she steadied herself. "It's going to be weird," Kagome muttered, her arms held out to steady herself as she adjusted her body, "I mean, walking with a tail is a whole different experience!"

InuYasha looked from the long black tail that Kagome now possessed to his own fluffy white tail. _"Damn right," _he agreed. Kagome ignored him as she took a tentative step forward. She wobbled a bit as both her tail and her human balance tried to keep her upright. However, she got the hang of it soon enough and was walking toward the door like a normal human; albeit, a human with a black cat's tail waving in a different direction with every step she took.

_"Damn, you got off lucky," _InuYasha told her as they descended the wooden steps of the shrine together. _"When __**I **__was first transformed, I couldn't even __**walk**__ right."_

"Well, you had to get used to four legs, as well as a different body structure and a tail," Kagome pointed out. "I just had to get used to a tail, which really isn't all that much to get used to."

InuYasha was about to reply, but something in the corner of his eye caught his attention, making his head whip about in order to see it. _"Fuck it all!" _he snarled.

Kagome looked too, her hand fisting in InuYasha's silver fur as her eyes followed his gaze. "InuYasha, what's wrong?" she asked urgently, her ears flattening against her head. (_'Still haven't gotten used to that,' _Kagome thought with a small shiver.)

_"Tôjirô's gone!" _InuYasha howled. _"The fuckin' houshi's run off and we have to fuckin' find him AGAIN!"_

Kagome slowly pulled InuYasha away from the pile of wood that had been the houshi's cushion when he had crashed through the wall. "C'mon, InuYasha," she soothed, still pulling him away from the temple as she talked to him, "Let's find the others and get out of this town before the people here decide to take matters into their own hands." InuYasha was still growling low in his throat, but he stopped dragging his paws and followed after Kagome, a task that was made even easier than normal due to Kagome's tail.

_"What makes you think the villagers will be after us?" _InuYasha asked.

"Uh, hello? The people here think I'm a dark miko, and now they'll think I'm a youkai too, because of these." Kagome gestured to her ears and tail before continuing with, "And besides, staying in this city won't help us any more. Tôjirô's already moved on...and Kikyou, too." This last part was a whisper, but InuYasha still caught it. Wearing what would have been a scowl on his normal face, he chose to input a _"Feh!" _and let the conversation peter out after that.

The city was a lot darker now since Kagome had stopped screaming and the hype about what could possibly be happening had died down and the people had gone back to their beds. It was hard to navigate using only the occasional lights from the 'late-night' places, but Kagome maneuvered through the dark streets like it was still daytime. _'Wonder if that spell affected her eyesight, too,' _InuYasha thought. It was certainly plausible, and if Kagome's eyes still looked the same, it would definitely be an unnoticed change.

He was about to ask Kagome if she felt any different when he caught a whiff of a familiar scent wafting up from the ground beneath his paws. InuYasha stopped dead in his tracks, his nose almost hitting the ground as he dropped his head and began sniffing, searching for the smell he had scented for that brief second. Kagome's now keen ears caught the sound of his snuffling, and, turning back to the stopped hanyou/dog, Kagome asked, "What is it, InuYasha?"

_"I can smell the others! The scent's pretty fresh, so they can't be that far from here!" _InuYasha began sniffing around, searching for the direction the scent had traveled in.

"Good, I'm glad that we were able to find them quickly," Kagome said, relief very much evident in her voice. Her petite hand came down and grasped InuYasha's fur as the large silver dog began to track their friends.

* * *

Shippou slurped up a mixture of meat and broth that the proprietor of the inn had provided for them as he stated, "Wow, I guess these people are really desperate to be free of the 'dark miko' if just giving them one ofuda gets you a hot meal and a bed for the night."

Miroku nodded wisely. "Yes, it just goes to show you that fearful people will go to any lengths to reassure themselves."

"Yeah, they'll even resort to taking help from a lust-filled, conning houshi like _you_," Sango said with a biting sarcasm embedded in her voice. Miroku laughed, although his nervous manner suggested that he was anticipating a mega-slap.

Shippou interrupted the impending fight by asking, "Speaking of fearful people, do you think Kagome and InuYasha managed to escape Tôjirô unharmed? They've been missing for _hours._"

Miroku paused in the act of picking up his teacup and turned his head worriedly toward the door. "I don't know, Shippou. I have asked the innkeeper to keep an eye out for either Kagome or InuYasha, but the fact that they have been gone so long is worrisome."

"So why aren't you _looking _for them, houshi-sama?" Sango asked irritably.

"Because we have spent the last few days traveling non-stop in search of Kikyou, and I, for one, am exhausted," Miroku replied without breaking his stride. "If we go out now, we will expend what little energy we have managed to regain from this short rest. For now, we must trust in InuYasha's strength, as well as Kagome-sama's."

Sango only looked slightly reassured. "I...guess so. Still, I'd feel more comfortable if I were out looking for them right now, instead of sitting here doing nothing."

Miroku was about to reply when the shoji door leading to the hallway was opened and the innkeeper poked her graying head in. "I'm sorry to interrupt," she said in a quietly strained voice, "but there is a strange young woman with a silver dog standing outside asking for you. I was going to-" Before the woman could finish her sentence, Miroku, Sango, Shippou and Kirara had risen to their feet and moved into the hall, dashing toward the entrance while the woman chased them, calling, "Be careful! I don't think she's human!"

Sango was the first to arrive in the entrance area, and the first to see Kagome standing there with InuYasha. "Kagome-chan, I'm so glad you're..." Sango trailed off as her eyes found Kagome's head.

Miroku, Shippou and Kirara arrived a few seconds later. "What is it, Sango? Is something..." Miroku trailed off as well when his eyes also landed on Kagome's head. Shippou didn't say anything; he just stared at the almost over-large ears perched on Kagome's head, his emerald eyes as large as coins.

_"Will you stop staring at Kagome already?" _InuYasha barked. He'd always hated it when people stared at the ears on his head like they were dangerous, but for Kagome to receive the same looks was somehow much worse. _"It's not like she's __any different from before!"_

Kirara was also not affected by the sight of Kagome's ears, or her tail, which the others had failed to take into account...yet. _"No staring," _she berated, jumping up onto Sango's shoulder and gently batting at her face in remonstration.

Kagome gave a small start and locked eyes with Kirara, staring at her with obvious confusion. _'Did...did Kirara just __**say **__something?'_

Finally, Sango broke the silence by asking, "...Kagome-chan? What _happened_ to you?"

Kagome sighed, her ears flattening to her head as she told them about what Tôjirô had done to her. "...so anyway, InuYasha managed to stop Tôjirô from turning me into a cat, but the spell was effective enough to give me these ears and this." Kagome proffered her tail, letting it wiggle about as she showed it to her friends.

"There is one thing I do not understand, Kagome-sama," Miroku stated, his brow furrowing slightly.

_"Only __**one **__thing?" _InuYasha snorted. (Miroku didn't hear him, obviously.)

"What is it?" Kagome asked.

"You said that Tôjirô broke one of your ribs, correct?" When Kagome nodded, Miroku continued. "Well then, where is that broken rib?"

Kagome looked down at her side. "Oh!" she exclaimed, her hands running over the tear in her shirt as she felt her side. "It's...it's been healed!" Kagome deliberated for a few seconds before stating, "I...I guess the spell started to heal me, or something. I can't imagine why my rib would heal so fast; I mean, I'm only human."

Miroku nodded in agreement. "I think I can see how that works. While the spell was changing your body it was also fixing up anything that was hurt before your form was changed. It's probably the same reason why InuYasha isn't hurt right now, even though you said he was wounded when he fought Tôjirô."

InuYasha hadn't considered that before. _"Feh-I'm glad that there's __**one**__ fuckin' useful thing I get from transforming into __**this**__."_

Kagome looked down at him, her eyes suddenly sad. "You say that like you're useless."

_"That's cuz I AM fuckin' useless," _he replied morosely. _"I'm weak, I can't even fight a human with a hoe, and I can't run for hours without being exhausted at the end of the journey. Damn, I hate being a dog!"_

Kagome knelt down and put her arms around his fur-clad shoulders. "I don't think you're useless," she mumbled. InuYasha blushed again, muttering something under his breath as he looked away.

"Uh, Kagome-chan..." Sango asked, confused by the (to her) one-sided conversation that had just taken place before her. "Can...can you understand what InuYasha says?"

Kagome looked over at her youkai-taijiya friend and nodded. "Mmm-hmm. These ears aren't just for decoration, you know." The group sat there in the entrance hall for a while; the normal humans and the youkai staring at the transformed hanyou and the partially transformed miko who were still standing in the doorway.

"Well, my friends," Miroku finally declared, "It looks like we might have a problem on our hands."


	16. Moonlight Madness

The forest was dappled with moonlight, the breeze whispering in the trees as the shinidamachuu wove their way through the branches and trunks, carrying souls to the undead woman who controlled them. The insect-like youkai made their slow and steady way toward a copse of trees deep within the forest, where one tree in particular was glowing brightly. The largest of the shinidamachuu wound his way past all of his brethren, soaring up to perch on the shoulder of what looked like a sleeping human miko, his red eyes narrowing slightly as the faithful youkai began to communicate with his mistress.

Kikyou's eyes slowly opened as she listened to what the shinidamachuu was telling her. The other spindly youkai began depositing the dead souls they had collected into her chest, each one giving Kikyou a little bit of strength as it merged with her clay body. The undead miko sat up slowly, her hands clenched tightly over her black longbow.

"So...you caught sight of the houshi who was hired to exorcise me?" she asked, her voice never rising above a soft sigh. The shinidamachuu nodded slightly. "But he had been injured by someone...or something, and was leaving the city." Another nod from the youkai. "Was there talk of another youkai in the city?"

The shinidamachuu gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head as he regaled the things he had heard in the city to Kikyou. A look of shock swiftly crossed Kikyou's face before she could stop it, her eyes widening slightly as she said, "There was another miko who looked just like me? _She _was taken by this houshi who believed her to be me?" The shinidamachuu nodded again.

_'That will be her; my reincarnation from five hundred years in the future.' _Kikyou sighed slightly as she got her face back under control. _'That girl-always meddling in things that don't concern her.'_

Kikyou rose from her perch and drifted down to the forest floor, aided by her youkai familiars. _'They saw the girl, and yet there was no sign of InuYasha nearby. I cannot bring myself to believe that he has left her, since he is as devoted to her as he was once devoted to me. But if he had been killed, I would have heard something, especially if it was Naraku who killed him.'_

Kikyou turned her face to the distant West and the city she had left behind when the whispers had started spreading. Then she turned to the West and began to walk, her shinidamachuu following her like ghostly, glowing shadows.

_'I think...this might be worth looking into.'_

* * *

Back in the inn, Kagome was leaning back on her sleeping bag, which she had dragged to the far side of the room so that it was next to the small crack between the shoji door and the outside world. InuYasha was beside her, his tail thumping on the ground every once in a while, his head resting on his paws as he stared at Kagome.

"This whole day's felt like a dream, InuYasha," Kagome finally whispered after an hour of not sleeping. "I mean, so much crap has happened to me, and all of it just feels...so _unreal_."

InuYasha snorted. _"One day? My whole fuckin' __**week **__has felt like a dream."_

Kagome gave a quiet laugh as her hand wandered over to scratch at his ears. "I guess that's true. You've been a dog for about a week now, haven't you?"

_"You think I haven't noticed?" _InuYasha asked incredulously.

"I didn't say that," Kagome said. "I meant it to be rhetorical."

_"Reh-what?" _

"Never mind," Kagome sighed, then changed the subject before InuYasha could get pissed about being treated like he was stupid. "Where d'you suppose Tôjirô's gone now?"

InuYasha shrugged, involuntarily leaning into Kagome's hand and her welcoming fingers. _"Hell if I know. S'pose he could've gone back to Tsuki-whatever Shrine, since he was wounded and shit." _

"I suppose so, especially since he didn't know that we had gone there, too," Kagome agreed. "So we'll put the Tsukikage Shrine back on our list of possibilities." She paused, her tail swishing from right to left beside her as she thought. "I...can't think of anything else at the moment, but I'm sure we'll get some more ideas as we go on down the road."

_"Dammit," _InuYasha swore, sitting up abruptly and nudging the shoji door open with his nose. The hanyou/dog traipsed outside and into the shabby garden, followed closely by Kagome.

"What is it, InuYasha?" she asked gently when he had finally stopped beside a small tree growing in the garden. "What's wrong?"

_"D'you have to ask me that, Kagome?" _InuYasha growled softly, sitting on his haunches as he stared up at the tree, his golden eyes sorrowful. _"I never realized how much I actually __**liked **__being in a human form before it was taken away from me. Even on the night of the New Moon I was still able to climb trees or do whatever was necessary to keep myself safe. Now I can't even stand up straight for more than a few seconds." _Just to prove his point, the hanyou rolled up onto his hind feet, holding his paws up to his chest as he teetered back and forth for a few seconds. Then he fell back onto the ground with a small grunt. _"Even when I was human, I didn't feel half as useless as I feel __**now**__," _he grumbled bitterly.

"I don't think you're useless," Kagome murmured as she sat down next to him, one hand straying out to clutch the fur on his back as her tail flicked over his, seemingly twining itself with the white tail on the ground. "You managed to tackle Tôjirô without any problem, remember?"

_"Yeah, but you and Sango were able to pull me off him without even breaking a sweat," _InuYasha replied dejectedly.

"You say it like it was easy. It was like trying to drag back a tidal wave! And don't forget, it's not that hard to hold you back in your hanyou form, too," Kagome pointed out. "Also, you can still run really fast."

_"Then I get really fuckin' tired at the end of the journey. Like you said when we first headed out from Tsukikage Shrine, I'd collapse before I got anywhere." _Before InuYasha could continue, Kagome seized his face in a grip of steel and swung his muzzle around to face her, her brown eyes dark and serious as her tail jerked back and started whipping about behind her.

"What's _wrong _with you, InuYasha?" she hissed, her ears flattening to her head. InuYasha couldn't help but to shrink back a little bit as she growled, "Even when you're human, you _never _put yourself down like this! Where's all the confidence? Where's the never-say-die spirit?" Kagome pulled his face even closer to hers so that brown was boring into gold as she intoned, "_Where's the man I fell in love with?_"

InuYasha's jaw flopped open, but he didn't say anything. A white mist seemed to be filling his mind as a tinny sort of noise started up in his ears.

"InuYasha?" Kagome asked, concern touching her voice as she took in his blank expression. "Please, you know I didn't mean to be mean or anything, I just don't like it when you're all pessimistic."

InuYasha didn't answer. His brain was still trying to decipher what Kagome had said without bursting the sweet illusion shrouding her harshly-delivered words. _'She...she...she...loves me?'_

"InuYasha? Please say something," Kagome pleaded, her now worried brown eyes peering into his.

InuYasha was snapped out of his daze by the strangely apologetic and worried tone in Kagome's voice, not to mention the gathering tears in her eyes and the general submissiveness that had crept into her small frame. _"Kagome...do you really mean that?" _he asked, his tail wagging furiously behind him despite his efforts to keep both his muzzle and his voice neutral.

"Mean what?" she asked, confused now.

_"You...you...you said..." _InuYasha's mouth, which could run on for ages during a battle with youkai who didn't give a flying fuck now seemed to be failing him during what would probably turn out to be one of the most important conversations he'd ever had in the two hundred years that constituted his existence.

Kagome, however, seemed to get the gist of what he was saying and went bright red, the cat ears on her head standing straight up as her tail sneaked into her hand so she could hold the black appendage to her chest. "If you're talking about the part where I said that you are the man I fell in love with...yes, I really meant that." Her voice was barely a whisper, and yet it seemed to reverberate in InuYasha's brain like she had shouted into a bull-horn and his head was an echoing cave.

Before he could shake off his disorientation, Kagome leaped off the ground, tail trying to retreat between her legs as she clapped her hands together and declared, "I'm exhausted! I'll think I'll go to bed now. Goodnight, InuYasha!" Kagome practically fled from the garden, her face going bright red with embarrassment and what felt suspiciously like shame. _'I can't believe I told him,' _she thought over and over again, her ears flattening themselves to her head as her tail succeeded in retreating between her legs, if only slightly. _'I can't believe I told him that I'm in love with him! Damn, I bet this'll mess up our friendship forever! Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn!'_

However, if Kagome had looked behind her, or indeed not clamped her sleeping bag around her head in an effort to block out the world around her as she fell into a restless sleep, she would have both seen and heard what many would have considered the happiest dog in the known universe. The large silver hanyou/dog was barking as he chased his tail in endless circles, sometimes falling over and rolling about in the grass until he could get back on his feet and start running around again.

InuYasha couldn't even remember a time when someone had told him that he was loved; he had been too young to retain many memories when his mother had died, and there had been no words of love spoken between himself and Kikyou when Naraku had split them apart fifty-two years ago, or when Urasue's evil spells had abruptly pushed them back together again. He definitely wasn't familiar with the feeling of complete and utter joy that was currently pulsing through his veins like some sort of drug. _'She loves me! She fuckin' LOVES me!' _he shouted to himself, jumping up and managing a complete back-flip before his paws touched the Earth again.

A pair of hands suddenly descended on his muzzle, stifling his next bark as they forced a crude leather muzzle onto his snout. InuYasha looked up to see the innkeeper looming over him, her tired eyes irritated. _"Nnnmrpfh!" _InuYasha protested, even more irked when his mouth couldn't open due to the muzzle.

"I'm sorry about this," the innkeeper told him as she started to drag him out of the garden with the rope lead attached to the muzzle, "but the one condition I made to your owners when they brought you in here was that you would behave and stay quiet. Your barking and running around was disturbing my customers, so I'm going to tie you up with the horses so you don't cause any more trouble."

_'No-wait-dammit!' _InuYasha dug in his paws and tried to pull back his head, protesting against the contraption as the innkeeper dragged him out of the garden, through the inn and outside to where two horses were tethered. She looped the rope around the wooden post that served as the anchor for the tethers and knotted it tightly, jerking on it several times to make sure the knot would hold before dropping the rope.

"I'll tell your people that you're out here before breakfast, but in the meantime, _behave yourself._" With that, the innkeeper turned around, and with a yawn, went back into the inn.

InuYasha tried to free himself, walking as far away as he could from the wooden post, then straining his full weight against the rope in several powerful jerks as he tried to snap it. However, the leather muzzle proved to be stronger than it looked, as well as the rope and the post; the muzzle, the rope and the post didn't even budge under the hanyou/dog's insisting tugs. Eventually, InuYasha tired out and collapsed at the base of the post, his head restrained from resting on his paws by the too-short rope. Resigned to a night spent outside with his head bound thus, InuYasha rested his head against the post, one last thought going through his mind before he fell into an irritated sleep.

_'I fuckin' __**hate **__being a dog.'_

* * *

The morning soon dawned, the sun rising in a sky that seemed to be divided between overcast and clear. The birds started chirruping in the distant trees while the city began to come to life once more. The occupants of the inn began stirring as well; in one particular room, Shippou was the first to wake, his emerald eyes snapping open as he leaped up, ready to begin the day. The first thing he noticed was that there was no silver dog in the room with them. Secondly, he noticed that Kagome was more buried in her bag than she usually was.

"Kagome!" Shippou cried, leaping up into the air and coming down hard on the miko's sleeping bag. In a flash Kagome was up, her hair a veritable rat's nest with two black ears poking out of the mess, her eyes sleep-blurred and confused.

"Whuh? Whaiszit? Whazgoinon?" she asked, her voice thick with sleep as her hands came up to rub her eyes.

"Did you and InuYasha have a fight last night?" Shippou asked, his poofy tail wagging about slightly as his green eyes took on a slightly concerned look.

"Iuono," Kagome mumbled, her hands stilling over her eyes as she tried to focus on the kitsune. "Why?"

"Well, InuYasha isn't here anymore!" Shippou stated.

This simple sentence had a profound effect on Kagome; she felt like she had been doused with a bucket of ice-cold water, shocking her into full awareness. "What?" she cried, her tail coming up like an exclamation point as she cast her eyes around for any sign of the silver dog. There was nothing. Not even one long silver hair remained of their hanyou/dog friend. Kagome's ears drooped as her tail curled close to her side. _'I know I screwed up last night, but I never imagined that I messed up __**that **__badly. Did...did I really make InuYasha run away?' _Kagome sniffled as she wiped a tear from her eye, curling up slightly like she was trying to make her body as small as possible.

"Don't cry, Kagome," Shippou told her. "I know! If you're like a cat right now, then maybe you'll like to play like a cat!" The kitsune took one of his toy snakes out of his tiny haori and, leaping up onto one of the shoji doors, began to swing it like a pendulum, left to right, right to left, left to right, right to left...

"I don't want to play, Shippou," Kagome said tiredly.

"You aren't even looking, Kagome!" Shippou said. "Can't you even try?"

Kagome looked up, about to tell the kitsune off for treating her like a cat, when she caught sight of the swinging snake. Something inside of her stirred, and her eyes became locked onto the wooden toy, following it as it swung back and forth, back and forth...back and forth... Without even realizing it, the miko was crouching down into a small ball, her tail coming up over her back like a question mark as her entire head now followed the snake, back and forth, back and forth...back and forth...back...and...forth...

Like a lightning bolt, she sprung up into the air, batting wildly at the snake, her hands curled like paws as she tried to catch the elusive toy, mewling like a true cat when it eluded her time and again.

"See! I told you you would like to play!" Shippou laughed.

In retrospect, the kitsune probably should have kept his mouth shut. The spell was instantly broken and Kagome's thoughts rushed back to reality. A deep crimson blush spread over the miko's face as she realized what she had been doing.

_'Oh, Kami...was I __**playing **__with that snake?' _Suddenly, Kagome knew why InuYasha had looked so ashamed after he had chased the ball back in the other village. _'It's so embarrassing to have the animal part of your nature take over, even for a second...crap, I'm never gonna live this down!'_

"Shippou, don't you _DARE _tell anyone else about what just happened, you got that?" Kagome rapped out, pointing a rather shaky finger at the kitsune while her other hand was busy trying to hide her red cheeks. "Or...or...or so help me, I'll let InuYasha chase you whenever he wants!"

Shippou giggled, his emerald eyes mischievous as he pointed out, "But the others already know, Kagome."

Kagome made a small 'Eep' noise in her throat as she turned around. Miroku and Sango were both watching her, obviously trying not to laugh at the sight they had just witnessed, not to mention the scene that had followed. Kagome, her face going so red that she probably would have blended into InuYasha's haori like a chameleon, sank down into her pink sleeping bag, mumbling something the others couldn't hear. Thankfully, the innkeeper interrupted any awkward scene that would have followed as she brought in breakfast for the group.

"Thank you, my good woman," Miroku said, still trying not to laugh as he accepted the broth from the tray the innkeeper proffered. "Oh, by the way, I was wondering something."

Sango shot him a death-glare as she too accepted some broth, warning the houshi with her eyes.

"Is it about your dog? Don't worry, he didn't run away," the innkeeper told them.

"How do you know that?" Kagome asked, perking up from her hiding place as her ears stood up straight on her head.

The innkeeper sighed. "I'm afraid your dog was causing a bit of a commotion in the garden last night; running around, barking, that kind of thing. My other customers started complaining, so I put a muzzle on him and tied him up with the horses to keep him out of trouble."

"_What?_" In a flash, Kagome had jumped to her feet and had raced to the shoji door, her tail whipping out behind her like a flag as she darted out into the hallway, rushing past the other doors and running out of the entrance. Her ears picked up the sound of a sort of thumping, making her turn her head so she could analyze it.

There he was, the silver-white dog she had come to associate with InuYasha. He was tugging halfheartedly at the halter that tied him to a wooden post in the ground, his eyes resigned. One of his ears twitched and he looked about, his golden eyes finding her brown ones. InuYasha stopped pulling against the post and looked at her with what was obviously resent.

"Oh, InuYasha, I'm so sorry," Kagome apologized, running over to him and seizing the back of the muzzle. "Have you been out here all night?"

_"Mmgnhph." _The word was garbled, but Kagome got the biting sarcasm behind it.

"I'll set you loose, and then I'll give you half of my breakfast, is that all right?" Kagome asked, her tail writhing anxiously behind her.

InuYasha deliberated for a few seconds, then shrugged, his eyes becoming less resentful as he grunted, _"Ymrgh."_

Kagome nodded, then tugged at the knot at the back of the muzzle. It took a while, but she eventually managed to pull the knot free. InuYasha jerked his head back, opening and closing his jaw several times and rubbing his muzzle with his front paw as he groaned, _"Kami dammit, I __**hated **__that fuckin' thing!"_

"C'mon, InuYasha," Kagome soothed, getting to her feet and dropping the halter to the ground, "Let's go have some breakfast." InuYasha trotted after her, shooting a long suffering look in the innkeeper's direction as he did so.

* * *

"I'm so sorry," Kagome apologized again, even as she turned over her entire cooked fish to the hanyou, who had already received a generous portion of food from the innkeeper.

_"Shuddup an' let me eat, wench," _InuYasha growled around a mouth-full of food. He did, however, snap up the fish as soon as his mouth was cleared. _"An' I forgive you," _he added, almost as an afterthought.

Kagome smiled at him. "I'm glad."

InuYasha shot her a sideways look as he started licking the bowl his food had come in ruefully. _"Don't you wanna know why I got tied up?"_

"You were running around and barking like a maniac." Kagome's brow furrowed, her tail flicking out slightly as she asked, "Why were you doing that?"

InuYasha snorted. _"After what you'd just told me? Why __**wouldn't **__I?"_

Kagome seemed to sag slightly, her ears drooping as she said, "Oh...I see."

InuYasha cocked his head at her, confused. _'Huh? Why the fuck does she smell so depressed?' _

Before he could ask, Shippou bounded in front of them. "Hey InuYasha: Watch this!" Shippou took the wooden snake out of his haori, placed one tiny finger on his mouth and flicked the snake. Kagome's eyes were caught by the movement, and she hunkered down again, her brown eyes fixed to the snake as Shippou flicked it. InuYasha watched, a mixture of bemusement and amusement washing over him. Kagome's eyes became almost blank as she lifted one hand, curled it like a paw and reached out to bat at the snake. Shippou pulled it back, trying hard to muffle his snickers as Kagome let out a small mew of protest, which InuYasha heard as _"No fair." _Glancing to the side, InuYasha could see that Miroku and Sango were also watching Kagome, their eyes sparkling with laughter that they also held back. Kirara wandered over to InuYasha and jumped on his shoulder.

_"Make kit stop," _she told him, her tails writhing anxiously.

_"Why? It's fuckin' __**hilarious**__," _he whispered back.

_"Spell progresses. Spell progresses!" _Kirara meowed anxiously.

InuYasha cocked his head at her, confused. _"Spell progresses? What the fuck-"_

Then it dawned on him. He remembered hearing somewhere about certain spells and their ability to, as the person who had been talking put it, "find a way to complete themselves, even if their caster couldn't finish them." Kagome did have her human form, but he knew by watching her that there were some cat-instincts buried in her mind now being brought to the forefront as Shippou dangled the toy snake in front of her. The instincts were probably giving power to the incomplete spell, which Kirara had realized while she watched the miko...

_"STOP!" _InuYasha leaped for the kitsune, his jaws snapping at the snake. Shippou leaped back with a small cry of shock, the snake tumbling from his paws as he darted for the safety of Miroku and Sango's backs.

Kagome shook her head, the blank look in her eyes abating and a look of embarrassment flooding over her face. "Oh, Kami, not _again,_" she moaned, her hands coming up to cover her cheeks. "I can't _believe-_"

_"Kagome," _InuYasha whined, his ears flattening against his head. _"Your eyes..."_

"What?" she snapped, her body going ramrod stiff as she fixed him with a piercing stare. "What about my eyes?"

_"Your eyes have slit pupils, like mine," _he groaned. _"They...they didn't look like that before."_

Kagome stared at him for a few seconds, then she darted to the side, rummaging in her backpack for the mirror she knew she had. _'Where is it, where is it? Please, please let him be wrong, please let him be wrong!'_

While she was rummaging, she didn't notice Miroku's face becoming suddenly blissful, his amethyst eyes taking on an appreciative gaze. "Ah, I can see the advantage of Kagome-sama having a tail now," he noted, mostly to himself.

"What on Earth do you mean, houshi-sa-" Sango's voice cut off as her eyes followed the path of the houshi's, which were currently trained on Kagome's bottom. Normally, it was covered by her skirt, which was long enough to give cover to her bum (yet short enough to keep the boys drooling) but the addition of her waving tail meant that the skirt was lifted away from her backside, giving Miroku a perfect view of the simple panties Kagome wore underneath her skirt. "_HENTAI_!" Sango screamed, her hand flashing out and connecting with the houshi's cheek, sending him reeling into the wall shortly before a large white dog pounced on him, yapping angrily as he berated him for staring at Kagome's butt.

The noise of the free-for-all covered up the small sound that emerged from Kagome's throat as she stared at herself in the mirror. InuYasha was right about her eyes; the black pupils were now narrow slits like the hanyou's own eyes. Not only that, but her fingernails were a little sharper, like claws, and when she opened her mouth, she could see that her canines were longer and sharper, more like InuYasha's fangs than regular teeth.

_'Kami...' _she thought, the mirror dropping from her nerveless hands back into the bag, _'Am I going to turn into a cat after all?'_


	17. The Cat's Sacrifice

The group was exceedingly glad to leave the city after breakfast. Kagome had told them about the tiny changes the brief bout of playing had wrought upon her, and the 'normal' humans (not to mention InuYasha, Shippou and Kirara) were worried about how far the spell could potentially progress. So, once again, they found themselves on the trail of the houshi Tôjirô, although this time it wasn't only InuYasha they wanted cured. However, Tôjirô's scent trail, according to InuYasha, was still pretty fresh, and if they kept up a good pace, it would continue to lead them in the right direction.

"Just one question, InuYasha," Shippou started as they made their way into the dark depths of the forest, "Why didn't you follow his scent when we were trailing him last time?" The question was directed at InuYasha, but Shippou looked to Kagome for the answer.

_"I...fuck, I just didn't think of it, that's all!" _InuYasha growled, his snout stuck in a cluster of bushes. _"You can't expect me to think of __**everything**__!"_

"InuYasha says that he didn't think of it and that you shouldn't expect him to think of everything," Kagome translated dully. Ever since Miroku, Sango and Shippou had discovered that Kagome could understand not only InuYasha, but Kirara as well, they had asked her to translate everything they said so the humans and the human-ish youkai could understand, too. It hadn't been going on for four hours yet and Kagome was already tired of it.

"Oh." Shippou scratched his bright orange locks for a few seconds, then shrugged knowingly. "I guess it _was _obvious. After all, how could a brainless idiot like _him _be expected to know everything?"

InuYasha lifted his face from the bushes and growled threateningly at the kitsune. _"You wanna repeat that?" _he snarled.

Kagome sighed. "Don't go starting a fight, InuYasha, and don't goad him, Shippou-chan. Now can we please keep going?"

Miroku and Sango shot each other sideways looks as they fell back, watching the trio in front of them. Kagome did seem a little on edge, but it was understandable, seeing as she had found out that her humanity was slipping away in what would probably become rapidly increasing dollops as time went by. Her appearance was already more cat-like than it had been at first, and if she wasn't careful, it was very possible that she could end up on all fours in a short amount of time. It was surely this one thought that was depressing Kagome so much.

InuYasha fell into step beside Kagome, still sniffing occasionally to insure that they were on the right path. He turned his muzzle up to Kagome, his golden eyes curious. _"Why the fuck are you so upset, Kagome? You've been on edge since breakfast."_

Kagome didn't answer the hanyou/dog's query; she merely turned her head away from him, her ears flattening themselves to her head. She didn't want to tell him that she was upset about accidentally confessing her feelings to him, and his reaction to her confession. _'I messed up so bad last night,' _she sighed to herself, the cat ears on her head flattening themselves to the point where it actually hurt. _'I mean, it's obvious he doesn't feel the same way about me...why else would he have reacted like that? InuYasha loves Kikyou, and I was a fool for not thinking before speaking.' _A small sigh exited her mouth as her tail retreated slowly between her legs to curl around her left ankle.

InuYasha stared at her, nearly stumbling on some of the loose stones on the path. _'Why the fuck is she so upset?' _he wondered, his golden eyes fixed upon her back (the only part of her he could really see). All he had done was ask her why she was upset; he hadn't even yelled at her or demanded that she tell him, which, for InuYasha, was the closest to civility he was likely to get. So why was she _more_ upset?

_"Kagome...did I say something to make you mad at me?" _he asked, not sure if he wanted to hear the answer.

"No, you didn't make me mad, InuYasha," Kagome sighed.

_"So then-"_

"Just drop it, InuYasha, or I really will get mad," Kagome warned, although her voice was more resigned than irritated.

_'Does that mean it's __**not **__about the spell progressing?' _InuYasha wondered, one of his ears flicking as an itch started behind it. _'I guess it has to be; if she was upset about the spell, she'd just __**say**__ so, instead of...of...what was that expression she used? "Skidding around it on two wheels?"'_

Kagome ignored the dog beside her in favor of staring through the trees, her eyes fixed on nothing in particular as endless thoughts streamed through her head like a river through a cave. Thoughts concerning herself, InuYasha, and the undead miko Kikyou, the strange love-triangle that had dominated her world (not to mention her heart) for two years now. Nothing had changed in those two years, save for the fact that Kagome had grown from a naive girl into an almost fully matured woman. _'I may be more mature, but I bet I'm still the same little idiot who thought mostly about herself to InuYasha. I'll never compare to Kikyou,' _Kagome thought dully. _'But I suppose that's to be-'_

The thought broke off as something glinted in the far edge of Kagome's eye. Turning her head, the miko could see a faint glow glimmering through the trees, pulsating slightly as it slowly moved in the opposite direction that they were traveling. At the same time, a familiar feeling brushed at the edge of her consciousness, the feeling of being almost complete, and yet like something was keeping her from being complete...

_'Is...is that...is that Kikyou?' _Kagome wondered, her ears standing up ramrod straight on her head. _'I...I guess it has to be. I don't know anyone else who shines like that, or who makes me feel so...weird.'_

Then an idea came to Kagome, an idea that was risky, but could pay off in the end if performed just right. Kikyou was a powerful miko, even fifty-two years after her death. She surely knew all the spells that houshi and miko learned while training, and maybe even some of the rarer ones. Wasn't there a chance that she would be able to help herself and InuYasha?

_'Well, she would probably help InuYasha,' _Kagome corrected herself dully. _'I don't think she'd have any reason to help me.' _She glanced back at InuYasha, who was staring at her with a curious expression on his muzzle. _'But if it helps InuYasha...I'm willing to go the distance!'_

"Hey, guys, I think I see something over there," Kagome said, pointing toward the glow. Miroku, Sango, Shippou and Kirara stopped their forward motion and looked in the direction Kagome was pointing. InuYasha turned about awkwardly, since his doggy-form prevented him from just turning his head.

"You're right. I wonder what it is," Miroku said curiously.

"I think I should go check it out," Kagome stated, mentally crossing her fingers for Miroku and Sango to go with her idea without complaint.

"Are you sure, Kagome-chan?" Sango asked worriedly. "I mean, it could be a youkai."

"No, it doesn't feel like it," Kagome said, which was true. "I think I'll be all right."

_"Hey, wench, don't you DARE forget about me!" _InuYasha snapped. _"An' I, for one, am gonna come with you whether you want me to or not!"_

Kagome thought about it, then decided that if she was going to ask Kikyou to help InuYasha, it would probably help if InuYasha was actually there. "Okay," she agreed, momentarily shocking InuYasha into a slack-jawed silence. Before he could say anything else, she turned tail and began walking toward the glow, calling behind her, "We'll meet you back here after we've seen what that light is, okay?" Miroku and Sango looked at each other again, then shouted their assent to their miko friend. InuYasha was startled out of his momentary daze and darted toward Kagome, cursing up a storm at the fact that Kagome had been leaving him behind.

Every step that Kagome took brought her closer and closer to the brightly shining lights that lay off the path. Every step made the strange feeling increase, bit by bit. And every step made the feeling of unease deep within Kagome's chest increase and tighten, like a series of steel bands were being forced about her rib-cage. A sharp gust of wind blew toward them from the glowing lights, carrying with it (or so Kagome guessed) the scent of graveyard soil, ashy bones and death-Kikyou's scent. Kagome knew she had guessed correctly when the dog beside her stiffened as the wind gusted over him, the muscles of his body so tight that she knew his veins would have been standing out if the hanyou hadn't been covered in fur at the moment.

"I know," she murmured, "Let's keep going."

InuYasha stared at Kagome with even _more_ confusion. Normally, when Kikyou showed up, Kagome preferred to be anywhere _but _near Kikyou. Now, however, she was heading right for her, her face grim but determined.

_'What the hell is going on here?' _InuYasha wondered. _'What's she planning?'_

_"Kagome...what are you doing?" _InuYasha asked carefully. After all, most of his sits stemmed from that same vein of jealousy that her self-hatred came from...

"You'll see," Kagome replied.

InuYasha scowled. _"That isn't an answer."_

"Well, I'm not going to give you one, so you might as well stop trying," Kagome snapped, her eyes flashing as she turned to give the hanyou/dog walking at her side a glare. InuYasha winced and looked away.

_'Sorry, InuYasha,' _Kagome apologized mentally, _'But I'm sure this will be a lot harder for me than it will be for you.'_

_'If it helps you return to yourself, though...then I'm willing to bet whatever I need to bet.'_

* * *

Kikyou's back rested against a tree, her eyes closed as she clutched the longbow in her hands. Her shinidamachuu twisted around the tree, sometimes dropping more dead souls into her clay body. For the most part, Kikyou ignored them, focusing instead on what her servants had learned in the city that day.

InuYasha's group had indeed visited the city, although very briefly. However, InuYasha _himself _had gone into the city-and hadn't come out again. _'Did he perish within the city's interior?' _Kikyou wondered, then dismissed the idea as soon as it had come to her. _'Unlikely. InuYasha is not one to let minor things kill him. Also, he knows that I hold his life within my hands, and that when the time comes, __**I **__will be the one to end him.'_

Something brushed against her consciousness, making the undead miko open one eye warily. It was familiar, part of herself and yet more foreign to her than anything else in this world could ever be. There was only one person in the entirety of Nippon, or indeed the entirety of the _world _that could make Kikyou feel this way. _'My reincarnation approaches,' _Kikyou thought, rising to her feet. _'How unusual.'_

A few seconds later, Kagome broke through the bushes surrounding the small clearing where Kikyou had been resting. Her stomach clenched slightly at the sight of the undead miko and her youkai familiars, and at the feel of InuYasha tensing once more.

"How strange that you have sought me out, and not InuYasha," Kikyou said, her dark eyes fixing on Kagome's face with that analyzing gleam that Kagome hated. "Has he finally forsaken you? Has he realized that you are the weaker one in this triangle that was never meant to be?"

Kagome winced and InuYasha growled, _"What the hell do you mean by that?" _

Kikyou seemed to notice the large dog at Kagome's side for the first time, her eyes moving from Kagome's face to InuYasha. Her brow furrowed in a rare expression of confusion as Kikyou analyzed the silver dog that stood before her. Abruptly, understanding flared in Kikyou's gaze as her eyes moved back to Kagome, a strange sort of anger glinting in their depths. "What have you done, you little fool?" she hissed, the hand on her longbow clenching tightly. "How could you have let this happen to InuYasha?"

Kagome stiffened, her own hands tightening on her shorter red bow as the ears atop her head flattened. "What do you mean, what _I _did? _I _didn't do anything! It was a houshi called Tôjirô who did this to him, not me! You should know that, since _you just said _that I was the weak one!"

InuYasha growled again, the fur on his back rising as his own ears flattened too. _"Kagome is innocent! Don't accuse her of anything, Kikyou!"_

Kagome ignored InuYasha (although she was secretly flattered by his support) and focused on the undead miko standing in front of her. "Funnily enough, I didn't come here to argue with you over InuYasha, Kikyou. I...I came to ask you for your help."

InuYasha's growl stopped, cut off like someone had seized him around the throat. _"You...came...what the fuck?" _he yelped, looking from Kagome to Kikyou and back again.

Kikyou stood there for a few moments, as motionless as a statue. Then, with blinding speed, she whipped her longbow up and out. Kagome gasped as the bow slashed at her face, leaving a bright red welt across her left cheek.

"You think I would ever help you?" Kikyou asked. "You and I may share a soul, but that does not make us kin."

Kagome rubbed her cheek with one hand while using the other to placate InuYasha, who was staring at Kikyou with a mixture of shock and anger in his golden eyes. "I wasn't going to ask you to help me," Kagome said quietly. "I knew that would be too much. But...but I thought that you would at least want to help InuYasha."

InuYasha looked up at her, but Kagome's face was unreadable. _"I don't want to be returned to normal if you're not normal, too," _he told her, a small growl building up in his throat. _"If she helps me, I want her to help __**you **as well__."_

Kagome ignored InuYasha again, although the concern and longing in his 'voice' nearly shook her resolve from its moorings. "...So, will you help InuYasha, Kikyou?" she asked.

_"Dammit, wench, listen to-" _Kagome silenced him by putting her hand around his muzzle. InuYasha made a few _"Nnnrmph" _and _"Phrphn" _sounds before he gave up and glared at Kagome, his eyes blazing with an almost desperate fury.

Kikyou was deliberating, studying both InuYasha and Kagome with her cool, dark eyes as one of her shinidamachuu wound its way about her waist. "If it is in my power, then of course I will help InuYasha," she finally stated. "But there is something I must ask of you...in private," she added, glancing at InuYasha.

A high whine exited the hanyou's muzzle. Kagome knew he didn't want to leave the two of them alone for any longer than necessary, seeing as the last few times she and Kikyou had been alone, Kikyou had tried to kill her. "Go, Inu," Kagome told him, removing her hand from his muzzle and giving his ears a reassuring squeeze. "I'll be fine. I _can _take care of myself, remember?" InuYasha whined again. "Please," Kagome added, her tail swishing behind her as she laid her forehead on InuYasha's. "I promise you that nothing will happen to Kikyou...or to me."

InuYasha deliberated for a few seconds, then turned around and darted off into the underbrush, calling, _"Don't you __**dare **__do anything stupid, wench!"_

Kagome sighed, then turned back toward her previous incarnation. "So, what did you want to ask me?"

Kikyou reached out a hand, letting one of the shinidamachuu land on her wrist. "There is more than one spell upon InuYasha. One is meant for a youkai. The other is meant for a hanyou. And...and I cannot break them," she admitted.

Kagome's ears drooped. "So you can't help him?"

Kikyou glared at her. "Don't underestimate me, little girl. I cannot break the spell, but I _can _change its focal point. He would no longer be under the spells, but they would not break. Instead, someone else would bear their weight, as if they had been cast upon _them _instead of him."

A cold feeling spread through Kagome's body as she saw what Kikyou was getting at. _'No less than I expected, in all honesty...'_

"So, you want to use me as the new focal point?" she asked, her tail wrapping around her ankle again.

"You already have an incomplete spell by the same caster upon you," Kikyou observed, her eyes briefly falling on Kagome's ears and tail. "It would be like holding two magnets together-"

"The similar spells would be attracted to each other and would lock together," Kagome finished. Kikyou looked a little annoyed, but nodded all the same.

"I will warn you, though," Kikyou said, moving closer to Kagome and looking her right in the eye, "You will have not only one, but two spells thrust upon you, in addition to the incomplete spell already on you. I have no idea what might happen to you after that, but the strain of having two spells meant for stronger beings than humans forcefully thrown upon you, as well as the force of your own spell completing in the process (which is possible, after all) could potentially end up killing you."

Kagome sighed. "If it helps InuYasha, I'm willing to risk it."

Kikyou nodded, something vaguely like approval sparking in the depths of her eyes. "You may call InuYasha back now."

Kagome nodded, then shouted, "InuYasha!" while also resisting the urge to whistle. She was sure InuYasha wouldn't appreciate that.

A few seconds later, the large silver dog burst out of the foliage, mouth fixed in a snarl as he skidded to a halt beside Kagome. "Oh, cut it out!" Kagome snapped when she saw the look on his face. "We really were just talking, so you can wipe that snarl off your face, mister!"

InuYasha quickly tried to compose himself, although his heart was still pounding hard and fast. _'Damn, Kagome's been touchy today. I wonder what her fuckin' problem is?'_

Kagome reached down to stroke the hanyou's head, resisting the suddenly overwhelming urge to wrap her arms around him. _'I mustn't make him suspicious,' _she thought. _'Mustn't let him know that I could be killed when his spells are lifted.'_

"Kikyou can help you, InuYasha," she told him. "She can restore you to your normal form."

InuYasha's tail started wagging behind him. _"And you too," _he said eagerly. _"She's gonna help you too, right?"_

Kagome's smile became fixed, but she forced herself to say, "...Yes." If it was the only way to get him to be agreeable during the transaction, then so be it.

The hanyou's tail-wagging grew more fierce as his tongue flopped out from between his jaws. _"Fuck yes! We can be normal again!"_

Kagome's smile became more natural as she tried her utmost to hide the tears beginning to gather in her eyes. She turned back to Kikyou, who looked more blank than she usually did. "So...can you start, then...Kikyou?" Kagome asked, silently saying goodbye to her family, her friends, and the furry dog next to her as she did so, just in case something went wrong. She could feel InuYasha shifting beside her, feel his bewildered golden stare on the side of her face, but she ignored him. _'I promised myself that I would help you and watch over you, InuYasha...and that's what I'm going to do.'_

"If you are done, then we will begin. First, you must separate from each other," Kikyou told them. "InuYasha, you will stay where you are, but _you _must stand over there." Kikyou pointed to her right as she spoke, deliberately refusing to address Kagome by her name.

Kagome gave InuYasha's ears one last scratch as she parted from him and moved to the spot Kikyou had pointed to. "I'm ready," she told her. _'No matter what happens, I will not scream,' _Kagome told herself firmly. _'No matter what happens, I __**must not scream**__.'_

Kikyou checked them both to make sure they were in the right places, then she turned toward InuYasha. "I...will free you first," she told him.

_'She's going along with my lie?' _Kagome wondered. _'I didn't think she would do that...although I guess she, like me, knows that it's the only way InuYasha will agree to this.'_

Kikyou lifted one of her pale hands and held it in front of her face, her eyes drifting closed as her third finger, fourth finger and thumb curled into a small fist. Her bow lay loosely in her other hand as an ethereal glow engulfed her body. InuYasha felt Kikyou's enchantment wash over him slowly and completely. It wasn't like Tôjirô's spells, which caused pain and suffering to the person who received them, but almost...warm, like hot spring water. Then there came a sensation like weights were slowly being removed from him, as piece by piece, Kikyou started removing the spells from InuYasha.

The hanyou watched, nonplussed, as lightning bolts seemed to streak out of his body to wind about hers like glowing snakes. There were two different colors of 'lightning bolts'; light blue and dark blue. _'I guess...one's for the youkai Tôjirô thought I was, and the other is for the hanyou I really,' _InuYasha concluded.

As each 'bolt' was stripped from his body, he felt himself changing, little by little. He stood up on two legs once more as his front paws became hands, his muzzle squashing back into his regular face. The fur on his body vanished, replaced by skin as his mane fanned out behind him in a great silver wave. InuYasha was glad that the spell sealed his clothes along with his normal body, otherwise he probably would've had to endure the mortification of being seen naked by both Kikyou _and _Kagome.

Speaking of Kagome, she was watching InuYasha transform back into himself with a mixture of delight and trepidation. Slowly, so as not to catch his attention, Kagome moved her hands to her waist and undid the knot that kept InuYasha's haori around her middle. The fire-rat haori fell to the ground in a red puddle around her feet. _'Any moment now...' _she thought, the ears on her head pressing tightly against her scalp.

The last of the spells unwrapped itself from the hanyou at that moment and joined the swirling mass about Kikyou's body. InuYasha felt like jumping into the air and whooping. He was _back, _finally, he was fuckin' _back, _for _real _this time!

"Your turn, Kagome," he called, trying to fight off the urge to grin and settling for a satisfied smirk.

Kagome looked down at the ground, tears gathering in her brown eyes as she mumbled, "Gomen, InuYasha...I lied."

InuYasha's smirk vanished. "Wha-"

Kikyou turned to Kagome and thrust out the halfway clenched hand. Without warning, the lightning bolts uncurled from Kikyou's body and launched themselves at Kagome, sizzling and snapping like snakes.

"NO!" InuYasha tried to leap forward, but was knocked back when Kikyou threw out her bow arm, a barrier popping into existence and throwing him backwards.

"You cannot interfere, lest you curse yourself again, InuYasha," Kikyou told him without looking at him. "Kagome has already agreed to do this for your sake."

Meanwhile, Kagome watched the bolts lancing toward her with fear in her eyes. _'Oh, Kami-'_

Both spells hit her with the force of an Amtrak train slamming into a brick wall at five hundred miles an hour. It was Tôjirô's spell all over again, only this time it was so much worse. The young miko wailed with pain as not only one, but _three _spells bound themselves to her, for as Kikyou had guessed, Kagome's own spell was rocketing toward completion with the addition of InuYasha's spells. She thought she could hear someone shouting, but she was plunged into darkness and deafness before she could confirm it.

Oh, the pain! It was like being torn into a billion tiny pieces, and each of those pieces had been dumped into vats of shouki while her soul was being twisted by a high-powered electric drill. It was torture, it was horrifying, and it was suffering at its absolute greatest to have spells meant for a human, a hanyou and a youkai coursing through her system, all at the exact same time, ripping her apart and putting her back together over and over and _over _again.

There was a final _FLASH_, one last terrible scream that reverberated off the surrounding trees, and then it was over. Smoke filled the clearing as Kikyou lowered her hand, her entire body trembling with an unfamiliar exhaustion. "Go," she told her youkai shakily. "I need...more souls." The obedient shinidamachuu soared away as they started a new quest for dead souls.

InuYasha was still sitting where he had fallen, staring at the spot where most of the smoke was coming from: the spot where Kagome had been consumed by Tôjirô's spells. His throat was raw, hoarse from yowling at Kikyou to stop, and for Kagome to break free of the spells. "Wha...what've you done?" he managed to say, his voice just as hoarse as his throat.

"I've done exactly what I promised...I set you free, InuYasha," Kikyou gritted out as she started moving away. "Now I must leave. I need to lie low for a while, and this place is less than ideal for me."

"But...but...you were supposed to help her, too," he accused, his voice lacking the necessary anger for the comment to be as biting as he meant it to be. "You were _gonna _help her."

Kikyou paused. "I never said that I would help her. We both agreed that helping you took first priority...and she never asked me to help her. She fully embraced the consequences of her decision." With that, Kikyou walked away, the dark spaces between the trees claiming her as she vanished into the depths of the forest.

InuYasha finally got up and darted over to the spot where all the smoke was coming from, coughing and waving as the stinging smoke pushed its way into his eyes and throat. "Kagome?" he called, looking around for any sign of the fallen miko. "Kagome?"

A flash of red near his feet caught his eye. _'My haori?' _he wondered, crouching down beside it, one hand stretching out to pick it up. Then, he noticed something lying on his haori, something small and furry...

"Oh, _shit. _No, no, dear Kami, no," the hanyou groaned, ears flat against his head as his clawed hands cupped around the thing and brought it up off the ground.

It was a cat, coal black with a lick of white fur on its breast. It was not as small as Kirara, but not as large as Buuyou, the cat Kagome's family kept at their shrine. The ears and tail on the cat were the same as Kagome's had been, only smaller, proportionate to the cat's body. "Kagome," he whined, one of his claws brushing gently over the bridge of the cat's nose.

She was so limp, her tail hanging pathetically over his wrist, her paws dangling like dead fish, her head flopping like a puppet with half its strings cut. Her almond-shaped eyes were closed, her breast was free of movement, her body strangely cold. "No-dammit, you'd better not be dead, you stupid woman!" InuYasha cried, his voice rising several octaves as he shook the small cat, watching fearfully as her paws swung back and forth several times for all his efforts. "You'd better not be dead, you baka," he moaned, bringing the cat closer to his chest, willing his warmth to go into her. "You have got a _shitload _of stuff to answer for-like _lying _to me! Why the fuck would you do that? Why the fuck would you do _this?_"

The cat didn't answer, but one of her ears gave a tiny, almost imperceptible twitch. _'She's alive!'_ InuYasha swallowed the sudden rush of joy that surged through his veins, thinking, _'Yeah, she's alive; but I know more'n anyone that that can change pretty quickly.' _Carefully, so as not to disturb the unconscious animal in his arms, he seized his haori and wrapped it about the small black cat, trying to warm her up and restore her to consciousness.

Behind him, he heard a thud as Kirara landed on the ground, Miroku, Sango and Shippou leaping off her back, ready for battle. "We heard screaming and saw a flash of light-what the _hell's _going on?" Sango demanded, her Hiraikotsu in one hand as she scanned the small clearing with an expert eye.

Shippou, however, noticed the hanyou sitting on the ground and exclaimed, "InuYasha! You're back to normal!" Forgetting he was momentarily on the outs with the hanyou, he leaped up and clutched at his shoulder, happy to have the hanyou back.

But Miroku noticed something that neither Sango nor Shippou had taken into account. "InuYasha...where's Kagome-sama?" he asked, his amethyst eyes also scanning the clearing, though for a different reason.

InuYasha didn't answer; instead, he asked, "...Sango? You know healin', right?"

Sango, taken aback by the rather off-topic question, replied, "Uh...a little. Why are you asking, anyway? Are you hurt?"

InuYasha rose to his feet, dislodging the kitsune as he slowly turned around. Ignoring Miroku and Sango's looks of shock and surprise, he showed them the black cat he had wrapped up in his haori.

"It's Kagome who's hurt, wench," he growled. "You've gotta help Kagome."


	18. Recovery

Sango gently brushed the black fur of the unconscious cat with the tips of her fingers, very much aware of InuYasha's hot breath on the back of her neck as he looked over her shoulder. His face was a mask of annoyance to block how worried and frightened he actually was.

"So, what the hell's wrong with her?" he demanded as five minutes passed without any motion from the cat, or any reassuring words from Sango.

"I...I don't know," Sango admitted. "Physically, she's fine. No broken bones, no dislocated joints, no wounds of any sort. I think the problem might be...her spiritual powers, or her soul. Whatever it is, it's something we can't see."

"I agree with you, Sango," Miroku said, placing one hand on InuYasha's shoulder. "InuYasha, whatever's wrong with Kagome-sama has to have something to do with what happened with yourself, Kagome-sama and that light." He paused for a few seconds, then asked, "So...what _did _happen?"

InuYasha turned away and faced the small stream that ran through the clearing the group had chosen for their campsite for the remainder of the day. "Kagome lied to me," he whispered.

"About...?" Miroku probed, Shakujou jingling noisily as he sat down.

InuYasha was silent for a few moments, his eyes fixed on the swirling waters of the stream. Then he spoke again. "She saw Kikyou's lights in the distance, and-"

"That was _Kikyou?_" Miroku and Sango shouted. Shippou looked up from the fish he had been eating while Kirara puffed herself up, hissing.

"No wonder Kagome-chan was so upset!" Sango cried, one hand whacking down into the palm of her other hand. "She probably knew it was Kikyou all along!"

"Did you pressure her to follow after Kikyou?" Shippou asked seriously.

"Fuck NO!" InuYasha barked, silencing the babbling outbreak as he turned about to pin them with an angry glare. "Even if I _had _known that the lights belonged to Kikyou's shinidamachuu-which I _didn't, _by the way-I _wouldn't _have pressured Kagome into doing anything she didn't want to! Now sit down, _shut up _and let me tell the fuckin' story!" Everyone fell dead silent. InuYasha gave a small "Feh!" and turned back to the stream. "Anyway, she saw Kikyou's lights in the distance, and started followin' after 'em. I only realized it was Kikyou when I caught her scent on the breeze. I was so damn confused, cuz Kagome _never _likes to see Kikyou-"

"You know _why _she doesn't like to see Kikyou, right?" Sango couldn't help asking.

"Dammit, _stop fuckin' interrupting me!_" InuYasha snapped, whipping around again. "And yes, I fuckin' know _why _Kagome never likes to see Kikyou! Now, SHUT UP." When Sango had stopped snickering, InuYasha continued. "-but there she was, heading toward Kikyou, frownin' like she does when she's lookin' at that Heisei jidai shit of hers. Then Kikyou was there, right in front of us. Then...Kagome asked her to help me."

Everyone stared at the back of InuYasha's head like he had just spoken gibberish. "She did _what?_" Sango whispered.

"Kagome-sama always had admirable inner strength," Miroku said with almost a proud tone in his voice. "She was able to grin and bear it through many things she didn't like."

InuYasha growled, irritated at being interrupted _again. _"Will you stop the fuckin' _nattering _and let me tell the story, already?"

"You can't say something like that and expect us to take it _quietly," _Sango argued.

"She's right, InuYasha," Shippou agreed.

InuYasha growled again, but decided that it would be best to continue. "I told Kagome that I wanted her to help _both _of us, not just me, but she ignored me. I was so _stupid..._" he lamented, one hand coming up to pinch the bridge of his nose as his mind went down this current trail of thought. "Dammit, I should've _realized _she was planning something, right from the beginning..." InuYasha trailed off for a few seconds, then shook his head and continued with his narrative. "Kikyou said she wanted to talk to Kagome in private, so they sent me away. I just ran around for a few minutes, wonderin' what the fuck they could want to talk about...if it was about what Kikyou was about to do, why wouldn't they have wanted me there?"

"Obviously, it was something they knew you would object to," Miroku stated quietly. "Something they didn't want you to hear."

InuYasha scowled. "I fuckin' _know _that now. It didn't even cross my mind _then, _though_. _Before I could wonder about it for too long, Kagome called me back, and...that was when she lied to me. She told me that Kikyou was gonna help both of us...gonna make _both _of us normal again."

Sango turned around, her eyes falling upon the small cat on the ground, her small form still cushioned by InuYasha's haori. Even as she watched, Kirara walked over to her and started grooming her forehead, her small pink tongue rasping slowly and carefully over her midnight fur. "She knew it was the only way you would agree to the spell," she stated sadly. "If there was one thing Kagome-chan knew, it was _you, _and what you would or wouldn't agree to."

InuYasha squeezed his eyes shut, one hand moving to cover his face. _'Damn...I've been so stupid.'_

"Kikyou started doing her anti-spell shit," he muttered, his voice muffled by his hand. "That was when I found out that when we met in the city, Tôjirô put another spell on me, only this time it was a spell meant for a hanyou...a spell that would hold my spirit more firmly than before. Anyway, Kikyou took them both off'a me, and then it was time for Kagome. Kagome...she said she was sorry...that she lied to me...then...then Kikyou sent both of the spells toward her."

Sango gasped, Shippou wailed, and Kirara hissed again. "Kagome-chan was hit with _both _spells?" Sango cried, her hands covering her mouth as her entire body trembled.

"Unfortunately, it makes sense," Miroku said sadly. "Kagome-sama's unfinished spell would have been extremely difficult to remove, since it was incomplete and Kikyou-sama wouldn't know which part she needed to take away. On the other hand, it would have served as an excellent focal point for a redirection spell, which is simply taking one spell from one being and putting it on another. Her incomplete spell was like a magnet and your two spells were like iron; once they were detached, they would have headed straight toward her."

InuYasha nodded. "That's what happened-both fuckin' spells headed toward her like hell-bent youkai. I tried to stop Kikyou from doin' it, but she put up a fuckin' _barrier _to stop me from messin' with the spell." The hanyou's voice started wavering as his other hand came up to cover his face. "Then...then the spells hit Kagome, and...and...it was like watching someone being burned, struck by lightning and tortured, all at the same time. Kagome...was screaming...it...it had...I couldn't..." InuYasha's voice broke. He couldn't continue the narrative anymore. The memories of how the spells had whirled and writhed about Kagome, how Kagome had shrieked in pain and terror, how Kikyou had just sat there and let it all happen while he howled at her to stop...it was all too much for him.

Miroku reached out with his cursed hand and seized InuYasha's shoulder again, this time for comfort rather than restraint. Shippou's bottom lip trembled as he tried to hold back his tears, while Sango carefully picked up the cat she knew to be Kagome and cradled her in her arms.

"What happened next, InuYasha?" Shippou finally asked, his voice filled with ill-restrained sobs. "What happened?"

"Kikyou walked off after she finished the spell, but only after she told me about the _real _plan," InuYasha muttered. "I found Kagome lyin' where she had fallen...except she was a cat. She was so limp...so fuckin' limp and cold...I thought the spells had _killed _her at first...then she moved a bit, an' I'd never felt so relieved..." InuYasha turned to look at his human and youkai companions. "That's when you arrived," he concluded.

Sango looked down at the black cat in her arms, one finger carefully brushing over the white patch on her chest. "Poor Kagome-chan," she whispered, "You must really love InuYasha if you willingly suffered so much for him." The black cat didn't move. Her eyes were still closed, her body still limp and cold.

"InuYasha, you really should put your haori back on," Shippou said, trying to change the subject and get everyone out of their current gutter of depression while also trying to stem his flow of tears. "You never know when you're...you're gonna get attacked."

InuYasha turned away again. "K'gome needs it more'n I do," he mumbled.

Miroku's hand squeezed his shoulder in an effort to comfort him. "You have suffered so much these past few days, my friend," he stated sadly. "I suppose you _are _glad to be free of your dog-form though, aren't you?"

InuYasha smacked the houshi's hand off of his shoulder as he growled, "Sure-if it hadn't meant that _Kagome _would be cursed in my stead, an' that the effort involved hadn't nearly _killed _her!"

Realizing he'd made a serious mistake, Miroku thought it would be best to leave InuYasha to his thoughts for a while. Gathering his robes about him, Miroku rose and went over to where Sango was. "Any sign of life?" he asked her.

Sango shook her head. "Not even one meow. I don't know what those spells did to her, but it can't have been anything good." The taijiya leaned over to the houshi and whispered so InuYasha (hopefully) wouldn't hear her say, "I...I don't think she's going to make it, houshi-sama."

Out of the corner of his eye, Miroku saw InuYasha stiffen, and could have sworn he heard the hanyou emit a soft, lilting whine. _'His hearing amazes me,' _Miroku thought with a small shake of his head. "We mustn't give up on Kagome-sama, dearest Sango," he told her. "She managed to survive that affair with Tsubaki, after all, so she might just pull through this, too. We just have to give her time."

Sango placed Kagome's small cat-form back in the nest of InuYasha's haori as she replied, "I just hope she _has _time, houshi-sama."

* * *

That night, InuYasha's fitful sleep was filled to the brim with the memories of that day; Kagome screaming in unendurable pain as the blue lightning tore endlessly through her body, while Kikyou just watched and made it all the easier for the spells to completely weaken her. Even more damning than the memories of pain were the memories of her arms about his dog-body, and the thought of holding her as himself, as a _man, _and the thought that the chance had been stolen from him yet again. _'I was so, so, SO stupid,' _he cursed, his hands tightening over his Tetsusaiga. _'Forgive me, Kagome, FORGIVE ME!'_

A pained mew broke through his light sleep and his fitful dreams, driving him to full awareness in the space of a single second. InuYasha's eyes shot open as he looked left and right, searching for the source of the sound. His gaze fell upon the small bundle of red fabric by the embers of the fire, where Miroku and Sango had set Kagome before retiring for the night. It was shifting slightly now, another pained mew emanating from its depths.

_'Kagome!' _In a flash, InuYasha had moved over to the fire, touching the black cat's head with the tips of his claws. She gave another mew and rolled over, her ears flattening to her head. Then, slowly, eyelids trembling like a leaf that was about to fall off a tree, her eyes opened.

Kagome's eyes were almost exactly the same as they were when she was human; the same shade of warm chocolate brown that had fallen upon him two years ago when her sweet scent had awoken him from the nothingness of his seal. The slit pupils were a little different, but they were still her eyes, beautiful and entrancing. However, what caught InuYasha's attention was the fact that those pretty brown irises were filled with suffering. She gave another mew as she stretched out one paw and placed it on his knuckle.

"What is it?" InuYasha asked, ears flattening to his head as he lowered his face as close as he dared to Kagome's. "Dammit, Kagome, what can I do to help you?"

Kagome mewed again, showing him her dry, cracked black cat-lips and a parched pink tongue covered with unnatural white dust. _'Water-she needs water!' _The hanyou darted over to the stream and scooped up a handful of water, careful not to spill a single drop as he brought it back to her.

"Here-drink!" he urged, his insides practically writhing with agitation.

Kagome lifted her triangular black head and sniffed feebly at his hands. Just when InuYasha was about to start gnawing his lip to shreds, her small tongue slowly came out and lapped up a bit of water. Slowly, little by little, she lapped at the water, going a little faster with every mouth-full she took. Kagome only cleared about half of the water in InuYasha's hands before her head fell back down onto his haori.

"Are you done?" he asked. The cat's right ear flicked. "You sure?" he asked skeptically. Her right ear flicked again.

InuYasha flung the rest of the water out of his hands, not caring who or what it hit. He put out one hand and brushed the tips of her ears with his claws. "Is...is there anything else I can do?" he asked urgently.

Kagome lifted her head again-it looked like a lot of work for her. She fixed him with a pained brown stare as she tried to rise onto her paws. The effort involved was too costly, causing her to fall down with another small mew. Before she could do it again, the hanyou's hands flashed out and picked her up, holding her awkwardly, but carefully.

"Did...did you want to move or somethin'?" he asked. Kagome didn't nod or shake or flick an ear this time. She simply curled up in his hands, the tip of her tail touching her black nose as a soft purr began vibrating throughout her small frame. "Uh...Kagome?" InuYasha asked, embarrassed by the blush that had spread across the bridge of his nose (even though no-one was awake to see it). "What...what are you doing?"

The cat didn't respond, and InuYasha realized that she had fallen asleep in his hands.

* * *

The morning dawned, more overcast than it had been the morning before. The clouds were a heavy gray blanket looming ominously overhead, the air thick with static from the impending storm. The only bright spot was that Kagome seemed to be adjusting to her cat-form; she was teetering about on her paws as she slowly learned to walk, and she had partaken of half a fish for breakfast that morning.

"I don't believe it," Sango murmured as she watched Kagome take another small bite of fish, "Last night, I could have sworn that she would die, and yet, this morning, she seems to be doing much better."

"Kagome-sama is a strong willed person," Miroku replied, taking a bite of his own fish as he also watched Kagome. "Her natural powers were probably able to compensate for the spells upon her, so that instead of being fatal, they balanced out so that she ended up more or less like InuYasha."

Kagome was glad she was feeling stronger today. She never liked worrying the others unnecessarily, and she knew her recent bout of unconsciousness had shaken them to the core. Even InuYasha had been worried sick about her; she could tell by the way he treated her so nicely in that way he always did when he'd remembered just how fragile she actually was. The only downside-a rather major one-was the fact that she was now a cat, and she couldn't talk to anyone save for Kirara. She now understood exactly how InuYasha had felt while he was a dog; she understood herself just fine, but it was as if she was speaking some foreign language, because the others never understood a single word that exited her muzzle. _'Not to mention the fact that I'm much smaller than I was before,' _Kagome thought. She knew she would be able to fit in her backpack without too much trouble, and _that _was saying something, considering how much junk was usually packed into the yellow monstrosity.

Sango's voice broke into Kagome's thoughts, making the miko turned kitty turn her head in the direction of the taijiya's soft words. "So...what now?" Sango asked, her hands folded in her lap as she stared serenely out at her friends. "How on Earth are we supposed to help Kagome-chan?"

Silence reigned in the minutes following Sango's question, as everyone in the group looked first at Kagome, then at each other. No-one seemed to know what to do, where to go, what to fight...

_"Well, this is rather depressing," _Kagome said dully, her head rising slightly as her body folded into a sphinx-like position.

InuYasha's ear flicked at the sound of the meow that came from Kagome. He turned his head to look at the rest of the group, a scowl/frown appearing on his face. "What if we go after Tôjirô? He put the spells on _me, _so there's no reason he couldn't take 'em off'a _her._"

"It's something, at least," Sango said thoughtfully.

Miroku chose that moment to squash the faint hopes growing in their hearts by saying, "Even if Tôjirô did help us-which he won't-casting spells powerful enough to change forms are always the most difficult to perform, which makes the spells that much harder to remove. Lifting _one _spell would take most of the energy the caster possessed, and you're talking about removing _three _spells, all of which are bonded to each other. The effort involved in doing so would most likely not only kill Tôjirô, but Kagome-sama as well."

"Thanks for elaborating, Miroku," InuYasha growled scathingly.

"I speak only the truth, InuYasha," Miroku said defensively.

_"So let's think of something else, shall we?" _Kagome proffered. Even though the others couldn't hear her, she was too used to playing peace-keeper to stop now.

"What're we gonna do?" Shippou asked, reaching out and gathering Kagome to his chest like he sometimes did with Kirara. "I don't want Kagome to get hurt or anything."

_"__If you don't want me to get hurt, let go of my stomach,__" _Kagome wheezed, her 'voice' barely audible as she tried to breath around the kit's restraining arms.

"Leggo of Kagome!" InuYasha's fist flew down and bopped Shippou on the head, his other hand sweeping down and scooping Kagome up out of the kitsune's grasp.

"Owww! KAGOME! INUYASHA'S PICKING ON ME!" Shippou wailed, his hands going to the knot on his head.

Kagome stiffened, peeking out over InuYasha's claws to mew, _"What do you think __**I **__can do about it? Do you think __**I **__can say 'Osuwari' in this form and have it work?"_

The dreaded word left her lips, but as Kagome had expected, the rosary about InuYasha's neck didn't shine, and the hanyou wasn't smacked to the Earth. However, InuYasha looked like he was about to start wailing on the hapless Shippou, though, so Kagome figured she would have to figure out another way of 'sitting' InuYasha.

So, right before InuYasha could start pummeling the kitsune into a pulp, Kagome opened her little kitty mouth and bit the hanyou's finger with as much force as she could muster. "SHIT!" InuYasha's hands whipped back, leaving Kagome hanging in midair. With a wail of fear, Kagome tumbled to the ground, landing with a muffled _"Oomph!" _on her back. "Why the _fuck _did you bite _me_?" he roared, his golden eyes flashing with anger as he turned on her.

Kagome had seen enough of InuYasha's anger to not be intimidated by him, so she puffed herself up and hissed, _"I can't sit you, and you were about to start hitting Shippou. How else was I supposed to stop you? Oh, why am I explaining myself anyway? YOU CAN'T EVEN UNDERSTAND ME!"_

InuYasha didn't understand what the cat on the ground was yowling and hissing about, but he could tell that Kagome was just as pissed as he was. "Don't fuckin' _bite _me again, you got that?" he growled, one hand rubbing the bleeding teeth-marks on his finger as he glared at her.

Kagome just stuck her pink tongue out at him. _"Whiner. You got a hole punched through your stomach, no problem, you shake it right off. An eight pound cat bites your hand, you start screaming like I just punched you. Grow up, InuYasha."_

InuYasha couldn't understand what Kagome was saying, and he was glad of that. He was pretty sure that whatever Kagome was saying was bitingly sarcastic and...well, it would make him mad, of that he was certain. Without a backward glance Kagome turned on her tail and stalked over toward Sango so she could ride with her and avoid being with InuYasha. Even though she couldn't speak to him, the stony cold silence that roiled between them after arguments was enough to drive her away. Before she could get to the safety of the taijiya, a clawed hand scooped her up, and she was suddenly face-to-face with InuYasha. "You ain't gettin' away from me, Ka-go-me," InuYasha growled, and, ignoring Kagome's hiss of protest, dumped Kagome into the yellow backpack that she usually carried.

Ignoring the stunned looks on everyone else's faces, InuYasha hefted the now screeching backpack onto his shoulder and walked past them. "C'mon, you lot, it's time we get moving," he yelled over his shoulder. (InuYasha had to yell, since Kagome was still loudly protesting her imprisonment.)

Miroku, Sango, Shippou and Kirara all looked at each other.

_'This is going to be interesting...Hope it's the good kind of interesting...'_


	19. The Storm's Revelation

Once again, the group was up the proverbial creek without a paddle as they slowly maneuvered through the dark trees of the forest they were currently traveling through. InuYasha had finally removed Kagome from the confines of her backpack after about an hour of her silence (which had followed after two hours of her shrieking.) She now sat motionless on his shoulder, her triangular head turned away from his face as she maintained a huffy silence.

After about an hour of sitting through this silence, Kirara jumped lightly from Sango's shoulder to InuYasha's. Looking over his silvery head, Kirara said, _"You still mad?"_

Kagome turned to look at the nekomata, her face slightly composed, only revealing a little of the irritation she felt inside of her. _"A little," _she admitted.

Kirara made a small mewing laugh sound. _"Hanyou is dumb when comes to you."_

The faintest hint of a smile flickered over Kagome's muzzle. _"It's not just me."_

Both cats started mewing with laughter, causing InuYasha's ears to twitch back and forth with the sounds of cat's meowing. _'Never thought I'd miss being a dog,' _he thought bitterly. At least _then _he'd been able to understand what Kirara had been saying. Now all he heard was mews and chirrups from either side of him. He suspected that this was because of his human blood; he was positive that a full youkai like Kouga could understand animals perfectly fine. That thought completely pissed him off, if he was honest with himself. He hated it when Kouga bested him at anything.

Kirara hopped onto InuYasha's head. The hanyou grumbled a little bit, but as long as the nekomata steered clear of his ears, he supposed it was all right. _"Not just angry because fight," _she said. _"Why else angry?"_

Kagome looked away, trying to focus on a nearby tree as her ears folded themselves against her head. _"It's...nothing, really," _Kagome lied.

Kirara made a small 'tch' noise in her throat. _"Not nothing. Not be upset if nothing. Truth now; why else angry?"_

Kagome sighed, leaning against InuYasha's head as she looked at the gray sky above her. (InuYasha made a small growl in his throat at the addition of another cat to his head, but other than that he did not object.)

_"Back in the city, when I was first transformed...InuYasha and I, well, we took a walk in the inn's garden in the middle of the night and...and...and I told him that I'm in love with him," _Kagome admitted sadly.

Kirara gave her a very confused look. _"Why that upset you? Not seem upsetting."_

Kagome reached out and touched the tip of her nose to InuYasha's ear. The ear flicked at the wet touch of her nose, and he tried to glance at the two cats without dislodging them. _'What are the fuck are they talking about up there?' _he wondered.

_"InuYasha was so shocked after I told him, and I was so embarrassed that I ran away and dived back into my covers. Not only that, but the innkeeper told us that he ran around and barked for a long time afterward. I must have really upset the poor guy...I know he loves Kikyou, but still..." _Kagome trailed off, unable to continue.

Kirara made another 'tch' noise. _"You blind."_

Kagome blinked. _"What...what did you say?"_

_"You blind," _Kirara repeated. _"You not see what rest of us sees, what he keep locked in heart. You not see him impatient when you leave for home, not see him get agitated. You not see worry in eyes when you hurt, or happy when you happy. He not feel nothing; something in his heart belong to __**you**__."_

Kagome's jaw flopped open in surprise, but she promptly closed it as she turned away. _"I...I don't know, okay? I upset him when I told him, so that part that belongs to me-if it even exists-must only feel friendship toward me."_

_"Who say he upset?"_

Kagome turned back to Kirara, her eyes so wide you could see the whites all around-which, for a cat, was pretty damn impressive. _"What...what do you mean?" _she squeaked.

Kirara laughed again. _"Sometime you know him, sometime he stranger to you. You fail think that he not been told he loved for long time. He spent many moons alone, no trust, no friends."_

_"He met Kikyou before he met me," _Kagome said sulkily, although the faintest of faint sparks of hope had started twinkling in her heart. _"I'll bet there were no words of love lost between __**them**__."_

Kirara reached out and batted at Kagome's face, although she kept her claws retracted. _"Eyes can see Shikon-no-kakera, so why so blind now? "Them" not trust each other for long time, and before love words be spoke between them, Naraku broke them 'part. No chance for much love." _Kirara cocked her head at Kagome as her tails started to wave back and forth like two miniature flags. _"You, on other hand-"_

_"Just don't," _Kagome sighed. _"I get enough of this from the others, and I'm telling you, he doesn't feel anything but friendship for me. __**If **__he feels friendship at all."_

Kirara shrugged her furry shoulders. _"Suit self. I not beat head against wall." _The nekomata leaped back to Sango's shoulder, swaying precariously but managing to keep her balance. The taijiya glanced back at InuYasha for a few seconds, then kept her eyes on the road ahead of her.

Kagome thought about what Kirara had said, considering them against the feelings in her heart. _'You know what,' _she told herself with a flick of her tail, _'Life is far too short to remain angry forever, and besides, you know InuYasha's been on edge ever since you were turned into a cat. Lighten up, Kagome, cuz who knows how long you're gonna be stuck like this.'_

Kagome made up her mind right then and there. Arching her back, she let a small purr start up in her throat as she crossed InuYasha's shoulders and let her tongue flick over his left ear. _"I know you can't understand me right now...but I forgive you, InuYasha. And...I'm sorry I bit you. I just didn't know how I could stop you from hitting Shippou otherwise," _she told him, her voice still that quiet purr.

InuYasha didn't understand what Kagome was telling him, but he got the comforting tone of her purr and decided that she was reconciling for her actions that morning. Absently, he raised one hand and scratched her ears like she had done to him when he was a dog. The increase of purring told him that she approved of his actions. _'Good...glad I managed to do something right, at least,' _InuYasha thought.

The hanyou's gaze went up to the sky, his thoughts running a million miles a second as they moved a thousand miles away from the place where he and his friends stood. _'Once...I thought that going to Hell with Kikyou was all I was destined for...I fully embraced my fate, and wasn't afraid to die.' _Kagome nudged his hand when his claws stilled on her ears, and with a slight smirk, InuYasha continued to scratch her head.

_'But then I started thinking...what would happen to Kagome if I died and left her alone? Who would protect her then, when I was in Hell?' _A single raindrop fell from the heavens and hit the hanyou's cheek, trailing down in a parody of a teardrop as the gray sky above opened up and began pelting the Earth below with rain. _'So I vowed to protect Kagome as long as I possibly could...but the longer I tried to protect her, the more she seemed to get into danger...not only that, but...I don't want to die. I don't know what I'm gonna do, but I do know that I ain't gonna fail Kagome again. I...haven't done as good a job protecting her as I should've, but-'_

A familiar annoying face popped in front of the raining gray sky, interrupting InuYasha's thoughts. "Good. You've finally stopped thinking," Shippou sighed. "I worry about you getting lost in thought like that."

InuYasha scowled. "What d'you mean by that, runt?"

Shippou ignored the insult and asked, "InuYasha...do you think it'll be okay if we stop for a while? It's starting to rain, and I don't like getting caught in the rain while traveling."

InuYasha opened his mouth to say no, but the others butted in at that moment, agreeing wholeheartedly with Shippou as they started moving off the path to find a nice tree or a shrine that they could use as a shelter. "Dammit, I wanna keep moving! We're not gonna find a cure for Kagome by sitting around and doing _nothing!_" InuYasha grumbled to himself as he started moving after them.

Kagome jumped lightly onto InuYasha's head and pawed at one of his ears. _"I appreciate the concern you're showing for me, but they're right. We do need to rest every once in a while; not to mention we could get colds from traveling in the rain. Don't you remember that time when we traveled in the rain and then I got a cold?"_

"Whatever," InuYasha scoffed, mostly because he didn't understand what Kagome was saying. "Stop playing with my ears."

_"Hmm...don't think so. I've always wanted to play with your ears like this." _Kagome pawed more fervently at the hanyou's ears, smiling to herself when he tried to move them out of the way.

"You'd better stop doin' that if you don't wanna go back in the bag," InuYasha growled warningly.

Kagome stopped playing, but she stuck out her tongue at the part of his head she could see. _"Jerk."_

"Whatever."

* * *

Luckily enough, the group found a half-way collapsed shrine a ways off the road, which they were able to take shelter in before the storm swept over them. In no time at all, the sky had gone from gray to pitch black, the drops of rain to torrents, the light breeze to a wailing tempest. "Wow, I'm glad we managed to get to shelter before the storm hit," Shippou whispered, his emerald eyes wide as he watched the howling storm outside.

"Indeed; I would not want to be traveling in weather like this," Miroku agreed, breaking off a dilapidated piece of wood from the collapsed part of the shrine and throwing it on the fire.

"Feh," InuYasha growled grumpily. He hated being proved wrong, no matter which situation the mistake happened to occur in.

Kagome, who had hunkered down beside the fire, looked at him with big brown eyes. _"Don't look so upset, InuYasha. It may not have been your idea to come here, but at least you didn't get stuck in the storm. You'll stay nice and dry (if this shrine doesn't collapse first) and then we'll get a fresh start once the storm ends."_

InuYasha just gave another "Feh."

But the storm didn't end. It raged on and on; one of those rare storms that wants to blast everything in its path with water and wind, causing as much destruction as it can before it blows itself out. Night arrived (they knew because the outside world became still darker) and the storm still showed no sign of abating. Not only that, but now they could hear thunder crashing outside, followed by lancing arcs of lightning.

"Dammit, is this storm ever gonna end?" InuYasha growled, one leg thumping impatiently as his hand white-knuckled his Tetsusaiga.

"It will, InuYasha," Miroku replied patiently, stoking the fire as the rain continued to pound on the mostly whole roof. "All things must come-"

The rest of Miroku's sentence was drowned out by a tremendous _BOOM _of thunder. With a squeal of fear, Kagome leaped up from beside the fire, her fur fluffed up so she looked twice as big as she normally did. Wailing like a banshee she dived for the safety of InuYasha's lap, where she hid there, trembling.

"Uh...Kagome?" InuYasha asked, a blush staining his cheeks bright red. "What are you doing?"

_"Thunderstorms scare me, okay?" _Kagome whimpered, trying to make her body as small as possible as she cowered in the crook of InuYasha's left leg. _"I've been scared of them since I was a kid."_

InuYasha didn't need to hear what Kagome said to know that she was scared; her tiny body was pressed against the inside of his knee, her ears flat against her head. Also, her tail was wrapped protectively around her paws, like it could shield her from harm. She looked like she was trying to hide from some imaginary enemy.

_'Scared of thunderstorms, but wild youkai are no problem?' _InuYasha shook his head, a small smirk crossing his face. "C'mon, Kagome, it's a fuckin' _storm. _What harm can come from a storm?" Even as he spoke, InuYasha's hand descended upon the scruff of Kagome's neck and lifted her up into the air, depositing her onto his right knee. "You'll be safe in here," he said confidently, although inside he wasn't so sure of how long the 'shelter' would last if the storm lasted much longer.

Kagome made a small sniff as she looked at InuYasha. _"Are you sure? I don't feel very safe."_

"I'm gonna assume that you said somethin' about not being scared and shit," InuYasha said. Kagome frowned, but decided not to push the issue.

After a hastily eaten meal of the dwindling supply of Kagome's dried foods, the group dropped off to sleep, one by one. Soon, only Kagome was awake, her eyes wide open as she listened to the storm raging outside. _'I can't help the fact that I can't sleep during a thunderstorm,'_ she thought, trembling as another _BOOM _of thunder shook the shrine to its rotting foundation. _'I've never been able to sleep during a thunderstorm. I can't explain why, but they've always scared me so much...'_

"K'gome, go ta sleep." InuYasha's tired grumble broke through Kagome's rampaging train of thought. She turned her eyes on him, incredulity flashing in the depths of her slitted pupils. "Are you seriously still frightened of that puny storm?" InuYasha asked incredulously.

_"It's not exactly a puny storm; it's more of a mini-typhoon," _Kagome whimpered.

InuYasha snorted again. "Wimp," he taunted.

Kagome stiffened. _"Well, if you're going to be like that, then I'll go sleep somewhere else...jerk." _Haughtily, she got up and began to walk over to the far side of the room, where InuYasha had left her backpack. She'd seen Buuyou napping in weirder places, so maybe sleep would claim her there. However, before she could get even a foot away from him, the hanyou's left hand unwrapped itself from around Tetsusaiga's sheath and grabbed her about the middle. Lifting her easily into the air, InuYasha brought her back to his lap and dumped her onto his left knee.

"I didn't mean that," he growled, not sounding the least bit sorry.

_"Hmmph." _Kagome turned her head away, then placed it on her paws so that InuYasha wouldn't get the incentive to start growling at her again. _'Maybe this time I'll be able to sleep,' _she thought hopefully.

InuYasha snorted again, and turned to face the gaping hole in the wall which had once served as a door. Thanks to his superior night-vision, InuYasha could see the rain hitting the Earth below it, turning the dust of the road into sludge. _'That's gonna be fun to navigate tomorrow,' _InuYasha thought sarcastically.

Then his thoughts turned down other avenues. InuYasha had thought, during the brief time he had spent as a dog, that he would have traded anything to be normal again. He had often thought about the day of his return to normalcy with more than a little longing. If things had turned out right, right now he would've been the happiest hanyou in Nippon.

However, he didn't think that Kagome would have sacrificed her humanity so that he could be hanyou again, not in a million years. _'I don't like it,' _he thought bitterly. _'__**I'm **__the one who's supposed to protect __**her**__, not the other way around. She __**shouldn't **__have done that...not for me...' _That thought led to the memory of that night in the garden when Kagome had declared her love for him beneath the light of the full moon. A blush crossed his cheeks as a strange sensation started up in his stomach, a feeling rather like he had eaten a living thing for dinner instead of his usual portion of ramen.

_'You're supposed to protect the person you love, right?' _The thought whispered through his mind like a swift breeze; a long distant, half-forgotten memory that had been buried in his mind by nearly one hundred and forty years of living in the wild. _'Protect...the person you love?' _he wondered, staring out at the rain that streaked the Earth. _'I did...did want to protect Kikyou once, while I thought I loved her. But it's __**Kagome **__that I want to protect now, more'n...more'n...'_

The hanyou's stomach did a strange flip-flop as his eyes left the rain to find the sleeping cat on his knee. _'Oh, shit...am I...could...no, I...Kami dammit, I can't be in __**love **__with Kagome!'_

As the thought ran through his mind, memories surfaced like bubbles to the top of a fizzy drink.

Memories of Kouga, and of how he hated it when he held Kagome's hands and confessed his undying devotion to her...

Memories of how Kagome had always been so sad when he'd gone to visit Kikyou, and of how he'd always been so relieved when Kagome finally smiled again...

Most of all, there came memories of _Kagome; _Kagome showing him kindness like he had received from no other, Kagome caring for his wounds, Kagome laughing at something someone else had said, Kagome sitting on his back as he ran through the woods...

Then InuYasha's reaction to how Kagome had said that she loved him floated to the top of his brain; how he ran around like a complete idiot, yapping his utter joy to the sky as he chased his tail, so completely happy he felt like he could burst. Was it because he had found out that the feelings he had thought to be unrequited had been returned after all?

_'Fuckin' hell,' _he thought weakly as he stared down at the small black cat perched on his knee, although he saw a pretty girl of seventeen with long midnight hair, pale porcelain skin and gorgeous brown eyes...one who he already missed with an aching passion...

_'I...I think...I think I __**do **__love her...'_


	20. The Ōkami Returns

The day dawned, misty, but clear, the sun rising uninterrupted in a dull blue sky. The land beneath the sky had been turned into squishy mud, even if it was sheltered by tree. All the scents of the land had been washed away, as if the land had erased itself in preparation for a new day.

The brown-pelted wolves sniffed around the forest's trees, coming up with nothing save for the scent of rain, mud and tree. They returned to their master, tails between their legs, ears flattened to their skulls and light blue eyes averted.

"What do you mean you can't find _anything_?" With a grace that belied his lanky form, Kouga leaped down from on high, landing squarely on his feet with a grimace as he sank several inches into the mud. With two loud _glorps, _he pulled first his left foot, then his right foot out of the muck. "C'mon, we're talking about a dog-breathed stinky mongrel here! You're telling me you can't catch even _one _whiff of inu-korro?"

The wolves whined, turning their faces away in shame. One wolf lifted his muzzle and made an "Awooowooooh" sound. Kouga's face took on an incredulous look. "What, you're _hungry _already? Didn't you eat half a day ago?"

The wolves all whined this time, circling their master with hopeful looks on their muzzles. Kouga sighed and kicked back against a rock. "Fine; go kill something and eat it if you're that hungry. Keep in mind that humans are off limits, all right?I want Kagome to take me as her mate, and if being a human lover is the only way to do it, then that's what I'm gonna do." Kouga thought for a few seconds, then added, "If you see my Kagome, or inu-korro, report them to me." The wolves panted and darted away, eager to seek their next meal.

Kouga glared at the blue sky overhead, a scowl marring his tanned face. For three days after his disastrous attempt to 'woo' Kagome, the ōkami prince had stayed in a cave where he could lick his wounds and recuperate from the inu-hanyou's fierce beating. The wounds seemed to have been infused with inu-korro's hatred, and took much longer to heal than ordinary injuries. What stung more than his hurts, however, were the rumors that had flown around the region, the different youkai tribes practically buzzing about the news of his defeat at the hands of a hanyou. Rumors had a way of going to the head, and soon Kouga was fuming at the thought that InuYasha could ever have bested him in a fight, particularly one that involved Kagome.

_'Damn you, inu-korro,' _Kouga cursed, his mind showing him a picture of his sneering hanyou opponent with his filthy, grabby paws all over _his_ Kagome. _'This time...this time I'll take what's rightfully mine!'_

* * *

Kagome was the first to wake that morning; the sounds of chirping birds and the golden sunlight poking in through the patchy roof were enough to drive her eyes open. _'Then...the rain's really ended?' _She got up and leaped lightly to the floor. _'Good. I could do with a drink of water, and I don't really want to be bottle-fed by any of the others.' _Carefully, the small cat picked her way through the room, her dainty paws not making so much as a squeak on the wooden floor. _'Guess there's something to be said for being a cat,' _Kagome thought wryly as she jumped through the open door.

Her paws squished slightly on the grassy ground, but other than that she didn't find any difficulty in navigating the outside world. _'Even though I never like the thunderstorms...it always smells so nice afterward,' _Kagome thought, lifting her head back to take a sniff of the fresh, rain-scented air. She shook herself and made her way over to a large, relatively clean-looking puddle, and, dipping her head, began to drink from it.

_"Food?"_

Kagome's ear flicked. Her brown eyes opened as she looked up, her tongue sticking out rather ridiculously from between her lips. _'Did I just hear...' _ Believing it to be a trick of the mind, she shook her head and resumed drinking, her tiny tongue lapping noisily at the water.

_"Meat! Fresh meat!"_

Kagome's head jerked up, her tail flicking out anxiously behind her as her eyes flicked left and right, trying to see where the voice was coming from. _'I don't like this...' _she thought, shrinking down and flattening her ears as she readied herself, whether for battle or for flight, she didn't know.

_"Kill, rip, tear! Kill! Kill! KILL!"_

The bushes surrounding the side of the path exploded, and out came five or six brown pelted wolves, their mouths flopping open as their blue eyes focused on her. Kagome stood stock still for a few terrifying seconds, her wide eyes fixed on the slavering beasts in front of her. Just when the largest of the group was about to snap down on her tail, her mind and legs unlocked.

_"INUYASHA!" _she screeched, a loud cat's yowl leaving her throat as she leaped aside and dashed into the bushes, the wolves hot on her tail. The bushes tore at her sleek coat like grasping hands, ripping a few chunks out of her fur, but Kagome pushed herself harder and faster. The wolves pursued her through the bushes, their eyes glazed with hunger as they chased their prey, their paws sending mud flying sloppily to the left and right, splattering the surrounding foliage as they chased the small black cat.

Kagome's size was an advantage in this muddy obstacle course; being light and small, her paws didn't sink so deeply into the mud, so she ran almost completely normally, while the wolves behind her skidded and slipped around in the squashy glop. However, the wolves were bigger than her, and while they were skidding around, they were also able to cover more ground in one step than she could in three. The leader actually managed to get a hold of her tail for a few nightmarish seconds, but Kagome gritted her tiny teeth and, with a yowl of pain, managed to wrench her tail away from the questing wolf. _'Oww...' _she thought, her tail stinging from the loss of fur (and in some places, flesh). Blood was starting to ooze out of the raw wounds on her tail, and she knew the scent of it would drive the wolves crazy.

_'I need someplace to hide,' _she thought wildly. _'Where is a good place to-' _A thought came to her then; so simple and obvious it made her almost giddy just thinking of it. _'Duh! Of course! Where do cats always hide?'_

With that thought still ringing in her head, Kagome darted over to the nearest tree and zoomed up its trunk, her hooked claws finding easy holds in the bark. In just a few seconds, she was perched on a high branch while the wolves were circling down below, panting as they looked at her with wide, hungry eyes. _"I'm not going to be your breakfast!" _she told them, letting the fur on her body stand on end as she hissed at them.

The wolves all cocked their heads, confused. One of them stepped forward and asked, _"Mistress? Mistress?" _Kagome blinked, taken aback. She'd forgotten that she could understand what the wolves were saying. All the wolves were now echoing the first, calling, _"Mistress? Mistress?"_

Kagome thought about it, and realized that these must be some of Kouga's wolves. It made sense, seeing as they were a little bit bigger than normal wolves, and they had Kouga's blue eyes. _'So by "Mistress" they must mean me-the __**real **__me, anyway. I guess they recognized my 'voice.''_

Kagome knew she would have to play along with the wolves if she wanted to get away, even if it meant having to suck up to Kouga big time. _'This'll complicate things to no end,' _she sighed internally. But there was no other way to go about it. So the miko/cat looked down at the wolves and hissed, _"Of __**course **__I'm your mistress! If you'd just given me a chance to explain myself before you __**attacked **__me, I'm sure we'd have that all cleared up now! Oooh, you just wait until I tell Kouga about this!"_

The wolves looked rather frightened now; their ears were plastered to their head, tails in between their legs as they looked beseechingly up at their 'mistress.' The leader came forth, his eyes almost pleading. _"We summon master, we summon master and tell him we make bad mistake. He care for you, we sure."_

Kagome shuddered, but managed to keep her voice steady as she replied, _"If that's what you want."_

The wolves all turned away from her. Gathering in a circle, they all started lifting their heads and howled mournfully to the sky. As Kagome caught a glimpse of the whirlwind steadily approaching them, she hoped that Kouga would be able to understand her and call off the wolves. Otherwise, all she could see in her future was a very quick and messy finish.

* * *

The sun stealthily entered the ruined shrine, its golden tendrils stealing up the walls as it made its way up the sky. One golden ray in particular was stealthily climbing up InuYasha's body, moving slowly but surely to his eyes. A few minutes later, the hanyou grunted in his sleep as the sun gleefully started poking him in the eye.

_'Dammit...fuckin' hate it when the sun's in my eyes,' _he thought, semi-groggy as he stretched his limbs. Awareness flooded through him as he realized that the motion should have dumped Kagome off the knee on which she had been sleeping. But there was no weight on his knee, no soft _thud _from the cat hitting the ground, not even the angry squall of said cat.

_'Where the fuck did she go?' _InuYasha thought wildly, his eyes scanning every corner of the shrine for some sign of Kagome. When no evidence of the small cat presented itself to InuYasha, the hanyou leaped up and placed his Tetsusaiga back in his obi, ready to tear the woods apart (if necessary) to find Kagome. InuYasha was about to dart out of the open hole that replaced the door when a terrible sound ripped through the air.

A cat was screeching its fear to the morning air, shocking the rest of the group awake as it yowled. InuYasha ignored the others' sleepy exclamations and leaped out of the hole. _'Kagome's in trouble!' _he thought urgently, trying hard to run as fast as he could while his feet were getting stuck in the mud, and he was skidding all over the place.

The screech stopped, followed by a few seconds of almost blissful silence. Then there came the low, mournful howl of a wolf who was on the hunt, followed by a procession of smaller howls.

_'Shit!' _InuYasha skidded to a halt, sending mud flying everywhere as he stopped in the clearing where Kagome had been drinking. He could see the imprint of a cat's paws, marking where Kagome had walked and halted at the puddle. He could also see the deep skid-marks and bigger paw-prints that showed where the wolves had started chasing her. InuYasha crouched, careful to keep his knees and hands clear of the mud as he sniffed the ground. The stench of wolves made him want to gag, but there was something else... something familiar about these particular wolves...

_'Dammit!' _InuYasha cursed to himself, leaping up with an awful _SQUELSH _as he tore through the bushes, following after the stink of wolves. _'These are Kouga's wolves! That fuckin' ōkami must have let 'em go hunting again-and Kagome's their prey!' _Just as that thought coursed through the hanyou's brain, he heard the tell-tale _whoosh _and smelt the growing stink of ōkami coming closer, meaning that Kouga was on his way. _'No ya don't!' _InuYasha growled, ignoring the mud beneath his feet as he pushed himself harder and harder. _'You won't get Kagome this time!'_

* * *

With an explosion and a blast of air (and some more mud) Kouga stopped at the base of the tree where the wolves were congregated. "What is it now?" Kouga looked up into the tree, where a small black cat was crouched, fear glimmering in its wide brown eyes. "Don't tell me you're frightened of this little beast," Kouga scoffed. With one leap, he was up in the tree. Seizing the cat by its scruff, he fell down to earth and proffered it to the wolves. "Here; eat up and get your strength back."

Kouga was just about to toss the cat to the confused wolves when-

"BASTARD!"

InuYasha leaped out of the foliage, claws outstretched. Kouga glanced at him and quickly sidestepped, letting the hanyou soar past him as the ōkami retreated to safety.

"Hey, inu-korro. Got a score to settle with you, ya know," Kouga said matter-of-factly. Kagome mewed helplessly in Kouga's hand, her brown eyes staring imploringly at InuYasha.

"I don't care about some fuckin' grudge; but if you hurt Kagome, I swear I won't rest until you're dead, you got that straight?" InuYasha hissed, ears flat against his head as he bared his fangs.

Kouga scoffed. "What, are you _blind _as well as stupid? Where do you see Kagome, mutt?"

_"Inu speaks truth, master,_" one of the wolves whined. _"What we try to tell you."_

_"Cat in hand, cat in hand is mistress," _another one whimpered.

Kouga blinked, then looked down at the wolves in confusion. Moving quickly, InuYasha leaped forward and snatched the black cat away from Kouga. Kagome made a whimpering mew sound as she snuggled into his chest, her ears flat against her head as she tucked her wounded tail closer to her body.

_"InuYasha," _Kagome whimpered. _"You came for me."_

InuYasha nodded once, his angry golden gaze still fixed upon Kouga. "You fucker, how _dare _you attack Kagome!"

Kouga, however, was looking at the cat in InuYasha's arms with an expression of confusion. "Kagome," he murmured, eyeing the cat with a gaze that was becoming more startled by the minute. "_My _Kagome? What the fuck have you done to her, inu-korro?"

"_Your _Kagome?" InuYasha hissed back, the cat tucked safely against his chest as he glared at the now snarling ōkami. "She ain't _yours_, you fuckin' ōkami-she's fuckin' _mine, _you got that? Or do you not remember when I handed you your ass on a platter at the mountain?"

Right at that moment, Kagome wouldn't have noticed if Naraku himself had suddenly descended from on high. The feelings coursing through her body were so overwhelming they made her oblivious to the rest of the world. _'Did..did he just say...just say I was...his?' _The hanyou who had always denied that she was unique, who always treated her like some annoying pest whom he wanted to go away, was up and saying that she belonged to him? Sure, she hated being treated like a dog-bone most of the time, but this case was...different. In this case, she was actually in love with the man who proclaimed to own her. _'Does this mean...what I think it means?'_

"Tell me, inu-korro! Tell me how you could let Kagome get into a situation like this!" Kouga was shouting, bringing Kagome's thoughts back down to Earth.

"I don't owe you _any _explanations, seeing as you were about to feedher to your Kami-damned _wolves_!" InuYasha snapped back, tucking Kagome still more firmly against his chest.

"I didn't _know_ that it was her, you bastard!" Kouga barked back.

_"That doesn't change the fact that you tried to kill me," _Kagome pointed out.

Kouga grimaced. "You think I don't know that?"

Just then, the rest of the group darted into the clearing behind them, Kirara's tails waving frantically behind her as she bore Miroku, Sango and Shippou toward the ready-to-fight hanyou and ōkami. "What the _hell _is going on here?" Sango exclaimed when she saw Kouga and InuYasha glaring at each other, growling loudly, obviously itching for a fight.

"Back off!" InuYasha growled, throwing his free hand out to stop the rest of the group's advance. "This fuckin' ōkami is _mine!_"

_"Um, InuYasha? I do __**not **__want to__ be in your arms when you attack Kouga, so can you please put me down?" _Kagome asked, chirping a few times as she started to wriggle in InuYasha's grip.

Kouga glared at InuYasha. "Did you hear that, inu-korro? _My _Kagome wants you to put her down."

InuYasha growled angrily. "Yeah, I'll just _bet _that's what she-"

"Hold on!" Miroku leaped in between the youkai and hanyou, both hands extended as if he were going to try to hold them off.

"Get outta my way, bouzou," InuYasha hissed. "This fucker hasn't learned enough from last time to fuckin' know when to _quit_!"

"Just wait; I want to ask Kouga something," Miroku said patiently, his hands still outstretched to try and keep the youkai apart.

"Yeah, what is it?" Kouga asked, eying the houshi suspiciously.

"You can understand Kagome-sama, am I correct?" Miroku asked, his amethyst eyes turned to Kouga and the wolves at his heels.

"Yeah, I can understand her just fine. What are you getting at, houshi?" Kouga edged back a step, his eyes narrowing as he glared at Miroku.

"I was just wondering...we're trying to find a cure for Kagome-sama's...condition, but we don't know what Kagome-sama needs or wants...so, maybe...for the time being..." Miroku took a deep breath and gazed around at the others, particularly at InuYasha and Kagome; the latter looked confused, while the former looked positively livid. "I was wondering if you might possibly join us for the time being."


	21. Canine Conundrum

Everyone stared at Miroku, their eyes filled to the brim with a stunned sort of incredulity. The two that stared at him with the most stunned disbelief were none other than InuYasha and Kouga himself. Finally, after a few minutes of awkward silence, someone spoke.

"Are you out of your fuckin' _mind? _There's no way on _Earth _that I'll work with _him_!" Both Kouga and InuYasha said the exact same thing at the exact same time, pointing at each other as they glared at Miroku.

_"Hate to say it, but I agree with them, Miroku," _Kagome said, although she knew Miroku wouldn't understand her. _"There's no way InuYasha and Kouga will work together willingly."_

"I'm not saying you two have to work together," Miroku clarified, "I'm just saying that you could travel alongside us for the time being."

Kouga was opening his mouth to protest, so Kagome decided that now was the time to intercept, much as she loathed to do so. Maybe Miroku was right. Maybe they _did _need a translator of sorts. _"You could do it for me...think of it as keeping an extra pair of eyes on me at all times...it would help me stay safe," _she told him, mewing slightly as looked at Kouga, though inside she was shuddering at the mere _thought _of having the ōkami close to her after what he had tried back in that mountain cave.

Kouga's outraged face suddenly broke into a triumphant smirk. "Is that so? Does that mean that you've given up on inu-korro an' you're ready to be my woman?"

Kagome's tiny face broke into a snarl. _"Don't push it."_

Kouga shrugged. "Whatever."

He turned to Miroku. "Alright, houshi, I'll bite this once. If you want me to translate what my Kagome is saying, then I'll do it-on one condition."

_'If it has anything to do with Kagome, I swear I'll scratch his fuckin' eyes out,' _InuYasha growled to himself. Kagome sensed the hanyou's tension and nuzzled his chest, letting a reverberating purr run through her body, her tiny form vibrating softly as her tail wrapped around his wrist like her hand might have done if she had been human. Slowly, InuYasha relaxed, though he still eyed Kouga with a suspicious and hate-filled glare.

"What condition would that be?" Miroku asked warily.

Kouga made a scoffing noise. "You think I'm gonna _tell _ya? Baka houshi. When the time's right, I'll make good on it, got that?"

Miroku and Sango looked at each other, then at InuYasha, who was glaring daggers at the houshi and the ōkami, respectively. Could they trust Kouga, who hated InuYasha and wanted Kagome for his own, regardless of whether or not she loved him? Could they make a pact with him for the sole purpose of knowing what Kagome was saying? Finally, could they trust an ōkami youkai who was ultimately working for his own benefits? It was risk versus reward, but which was greater here: the risk, or the reward? It was a hard choice, and Miroku steeled himself before giving his verdict.

"All right, but know that if the..._condition_ is something we do not agree to, I will let InuYasha do as he pleases with you," Miroku said. Sango nodded tersely.

InuYasha scowled. "Thanks for thinkin' of me, guys."

Kouga smirked. "So we've come to an agreement then." The ōkami prince leaped up, careful to use InuYasha's head as a stepping-stone as he crossed over to where the two humans were standing, the youkai at their backs. "Well, c'mon, you humans. I'm not gonna stand around all day doing nothing while Naraku still draws breath," the ōkami shouted behind him, his wolves at his heels as he moved with exaggerated slowness.

_"I sincerely hope we don't come to regret this," _Kagome mewed, wriggling carefully out of InuYasha's arms so that she could stand on his shoulder. _"And I definitely hope that I am not the condition under which Kouga accepted Miroku-sama's offer."_

"Don't worry, Kagome," InuYasha growled, one hand lifting up to cover the small cat's head. "I _swear _that I won't let that fuckin' ōkami come within an _inch _of you."

_"I hope you can manage to do that," _Kagome mewed back, rubbing her head against the hanyou's palm. _"But, as chichi-ue once told me 'Some of the wiliest creatures in the world are kitsune, tsuchigumo...and __ōkami__."_

* * *

The rest of the day was spent traveling in relative silence. InuYasha and Kouga were both leading the party, each obviously trying to outdo the other in speed. Kagome's claws were rooted deeply in InuYasha's haori-clad shoulder as she held on for dear life, the wind blasting through her fur as the hanyou pushed himself faster and faster, trying to catch up to Kouga's tornado with only a little success. At least he hadn't lost sight of it during the run.

Miroku, Sango, Kirara and Shippou trailed farther behind them, watching with a sort of resigned disbelief as the trail of dust and the whirlwind moved faster and faster, each of them racing to see who could run the fastest. "Why are they racing like that? Don't they know they're gonna waste their energy?" Shippou asked incredulously.

"Probably, but I think Kouga and InuYasha are trying to establish which one of them is stronger and faster than the other," Sango told him. "If two youkai, especially inu and ōkami youkai, are competing for a female's attention, they'll start showing off, you know, and try to outdo each other at every little thing. Both of them want to prove that they're the best choice for a mate."

Miroku nodded in agreement. "And this isn't even the beginning. Ever since Kouga first started chasing after Kagome-sama, they've been competing for her affections."

Shippou looked from Miroku to the barely visible hanyou and the black dot that was Kagome, clinging desperately to InuYasha's shoulder with all four sets of claws. "Do you think Kagome knows?" Shippou asked.

"Of course she knows, Shippou," Sango replied. "Why else would she get so exasperated every time they fight and insult each other? Kagome-chan is a human woman; she wants what a human woman wants, not what a female youkai wants."

Even as Sango spoke, Kagome was watching (and unwillingly participating in) InuYasha and Kouga's little race with increasing exasperation. _'This really isn't very impressive, guys,' _she sighed internally, then gasped as a particularly wild leap performed by InuYasha nearly threw her off of his shoulder. _"Inu, please slow down! I'm gonna fall!" _she screeched, trying hard to grip his shoulders without falling out.

InuYasha glanced at her, and noticed with alarm that Kagome was barely clinging on to his shoulder, slipping a little more with each step he took. The tiny muscles of her body were clenched so tightly that she almost resembled a furry black stone. Her cat-lips were pulled back to reveal her little fangs, her ears forced back against her head as her tail whipped out behind her like a flag on a motorcycle.

InuYasha dug in his heels, reducing his speed to almost nothing in a few seconds and a lot of now drying mud. In hindsight, that was probably not the hanyou's best idea; because of his abrupt stop, Kagome was launched off of his shoulder like she had been shot from a pistol. With a loud screech, she flew into a cluster of bushes, paws waving frantically as she tried vainly to slow herself down.

"Shit!" InuYasha darted over to the bushes, heart pounding in his throat as he searched for the miko/cat who had been thrown off of his shoulder.

Kagome was lying on her back on top of one of the bigger bushes, little moans coming from her throat as her head wobbled back and forth. _'OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoh...' _she moaned internally, wishing she could raise her hands to her head. _'Why is everything spinning so much?'_

"Kagome! Are you all right?" InuYasha called urgently, reaching out and scooping up the cat, holding her in his arms as he eyed her with a quick, concerned glance.

_"I'll be-"_

A fur-clad arm chose that moment to fly down from above and deliver a sharp punch to the back of InuYasha's head. "How _dare _you put Kagome's life in danger, mutt!" Kouga shouted, his fist clenched as he glared blue daggers at the hanyou. "I saw what you did there."

"Oh yeah?" InuYasha growled back, placing Kagome back on his shoulder as he flexed his right hand, the joints crackling dangerously. "What _did _I do, then, ōkami?"

Kouga stood up straight and tall as he raised his fist and extended his index finger toward the hanyou. "You _deliberately_ threw her off, you despicable mutt!"

InuYasha quickly went from irritated to completely pissed in the space of about four seconds. Kagome thought she could actually _feel_ his aura; it was like a heat wave, pulsing and boiling around the hanyou's form. Angrily, he snarled, "I would _never _hurt Kagome on purpose! These claws," he flexed his hands, "could _never _hurt her, not in a thousand years. _You, _on the other hand, I have _no _problem with tearin' _you _apart."

"Oh yeah?" Kouga growled, punching the palm of his hand as he smirked. "You can't even _catch _me, puppy, an' that victory at the cave was a stroke of luck on your part. I bet if I was paying more attention to you than to my Kagome's body, you'd be crow-food."

InuYasha tensed, obviously readying himself to charge. "Yeah? Well, we'll just _see _who'll be crow-food!"

_"No! Calm down, you two! Calm down! Don't do this!" _Kagome cried, but her cry went in vain.

The ōkami prince and the inu-hanyou charged at each other, teeth bared in fierce snarls as they lifted their hands and flexed their claws, ready to tear each other to pieces. They were about to charge when-

"Hiraikotsu!" Out of the blue came the taijiya's gigantic bone boomerang, careening wildly through the air as it headed straight toward the rambunctious youkai. Both of them only just managed to leap apart before the weapon was tearing up the ground where they had been before it flew back. Sango caught the boomerang with the air of someone who had used that weapon for a long time as Kirara landed on the ground, depositing Miroku, the taijiya and Shippou onto the ground as she moved in between InuYasha and Kouga.

"Are you out of your _mind?_" Sango shouted, using Hiraikotsu to whack InuYasha right in between the ears. "Do you realize how much _danger _you'd put Kagome-chan in if you and Kouga got into a fight? I bet she was scared to death!"

_"Yeah, not to mention tired of all this crap," _Kagome mewed, trembling slightly as her heart slowly resumed its normal pace, although her fur probably wasn't going to lie flat for a while.

InuYasha sullenly massaged the knot in between his ears as he muttered, "Th' ōkami started it."

"Yeah? Well, I don't care _who _started it, I'm finishing it!" With the speed of a thunderbolt, Sango snatched Kagome off of InuYasha's shoulder and deposited her on Kirara's head. "I'll be taking care of Kagome-chan until you can learn to mature, InuYasha."

InuYasha leaped at them, fangs bared as he growled, "Hey-who the fuck died and made you emperor? An' who says you can take Kagome away from me, huh? Hey, I'm talkin' to ya!" Sango just glared at the hanyou, one hand straying to the handle of her Hiraikotsu.

"InuYasha," Miroku called down, his amethyst eyes sparkling with amusement, "I'd suggest a quick and painless surrender. Take it from me, Sango will not forgive you unless you are the one to back down."

"As if! I'll never surrender!" InuYasha shouted back.

"Suit yourself," Miroku sighed.

"Let's go, Kirara," Sango ordered. "Do you have a firm hold on Kirara, Kagome?" Kagome mewed her assent, curling up in between Kirara's black ears. "Then let's go!" Without further ado, Kirara leaped into the air, soaring high up into the sky as she carried the houshi, taijiya, kitsune and miko/cat upwards.

"Hey-shit-stoppit! Cut it out right now, ya stupid, fuckin'..." InuYasha's words ran out as he stared angrily at the rapidly shrinking dot that was his friends and Kagome. Then he turned around and glared at Kouga, who was also watching the neko with a rather bemused expression on his face. "This is all your fault, you fuckin' ōkami," InuYasha spat, his golden eyes narrowing as he glared daggers at Kouga.

"Sure, sure. Put your muzzle back on, puppy, or you'll get left behind by your human pets," Kouga snapped back, turning tail and running in the direction that Kirara had gone.

"Shit, stop leaving me behind!" InuYasha jumped forth, fangs bared in an irritated scowl. "Dammit, I _knew _it wasn't a good idea to ask that damn ōkami for help!"

* * *

Three long hours later, Kouga and InuYasha were sitting on opposite sides of the chosen campsite, their faces set in identical scowls as they kept their backs to each other. This was the only solution that Miroku, Sango and Kagome could think of to keep the peace in between the two youkai. Since they had begun traveling together, tensions between them had been like a powder keg; only a small spark was needed to set the whole thing ablaze. The first incident was, of course, the scene in the forest. Shortly after the group had set up camp, they had fought over who was going to look after Kagome, then who was going to get the bigger fish. Both of them were now sporting nasty scratches and bruises all over their bodies, as well as some bite-marks here and there.

"It's like looking after a couple of three-year olds," Sango sighed as she poked the fire with a stick. "Those two always have to fight over every single thing."

"Like you said, they're just trying to be impressive," Miroku replied. "It's no different than watching two inu or ōkami youkai fight in order to win a mate's approval."

Kouga overheard their conversation, and shouted loudly enough to catch InuYasha's attention as he yelled, "Damn right I'm trying to win Kagome's affections! If I can prove that I'm stronger, faster (and to be perfectly honest, damn sexier) than inu-korro, then Kagome will be mine!"

InuYasha growled, ears flattening as he yelled back, "In your dreams, you fuckin' ōkami! There ain't no way in _Hell _Kagome would ever want a stupid wolf like you!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

Kouga turned around, his blue eyes narrowed as he growled, "You're pretty mouthy today, puppy. Why don't ya come over here and say that?"

InuYasha also turned around, one fist clenched as he growled back, "Oh yeah? D'you really want a rematch, wolf-breath?"

"Bring it, inu-korro!" The ōkami leaped over the fire and the startled humans, hitting the hanyou dead on as for the fourth time that day they started grappling.

_"InuYasha! Kouga! Please stop fighting!" _Kagome cried, her black tail writhing anxiously behind her as she darted toward the fighting pair, mewing anxiously as she jumped around the snarling pair. _'They might __**kill **__each other if they don't stop!' _Kagome thought, fear overriding rationality as she started yowling at the grappling canines, trying to get them to stop fighting.

Miroku looked at Sango, his amethyst eyes grave. "My dear Sango, I do believe that this could be a rather large mistake on my part," he sighed.

* * *

_A/N: This is the chapter where my misspent youth of watching nature programs comes into play...^^_

tsuchigumo-spider-like demon


	22. The Troubles Start Mounting

The old houshi painstakingly swept the bottom stairs of his beloved Tsukikage Shrine, clearing the needles from the ancient wood and gathering them into a small pile. It was a long and sometimes tiring task, but the houshi knew that the better care he took of his shrine, the more the Kami would smile upon him and whoever lived in or visited this shrine.

"Elder?"

The houshi's old ears barely heard the quiet inquiry. His broom stilling upon the ground, the old man looked blindly in the direction of the voice, milky eyes narrowing as he strained his ears to the utmost. "Tôjirô? Is that you, or are my old ears deceiving me again?" the houshi asked.

Tôjirô came closer to the old houshi, a half-smile on his face, his eyes less hateful and angry than they usually were. "I keep telling you, elder; you should be in bed with a good strong cup of tea at this hour. Chikanaka-sensei would want it that way."

The old houshi chuckled. "If I'm not mistaken, you sound mighty worried for me, Tôjirô. It has been a long time since I have heard concern for another's well-being in your voice. Have you had a revelation?"

Tôjirô gave a humorless laugh. "Revelation? Nothing of the sort. I just don't want my master's old friend out in the cold at this time of night. Youkai like nothing more than a quick meal, and you are not as fast as you once were, elder."

The houshi laughed toothlessly. "Youkai wouldn't want to eat an old man like me! Far too gamy, tough and meatless for their liking, methinks." The houshi swept a few errant needles into the rest of the pile, his sightless eyes fixed on a spot some two feet to the right of the green mound. "I sense that there is something else you wanted to tell me, Tôjirô. Would you mind telling me?"

Tôjirô's eyes darkened as he looked out at the steadily blackening sky. "I'm leaving for the road tonight. I could have _sworn _I felt the youki of the blasted youkai who broke Chikanaka-sensei's dokko pass by here a few minutes ago. I can't let him get away, not when I'm already healed and ready to go." Tôjirô's fist clenched on his now repaired staff as he hissed, "He must pay for what he and his little wench have done to me!"

The houshi sighed sadly. _'So much hatred reigns in his heart, and there is no amount of healing that I or anyone else can offer him...not as long as youkai continue to walk through Nippon. Chikanaka would have surely not wished him to pursue this lifestyle of hatred and vengeance, but there is nothing that anyone __can do for Tôjirô now_, least of all a tired old man like myself.'

"Well, a safe journey to you, Tôjirô," the houshi said, resuming his sweeping once more. "May the Kami watch over you and guide you to the correct path if ever you err."

Tôjirô bowed slightly, one hand placed on his heart as he replied, "And may the Kami watch over you and protect you and the Tsukikage Shrine from peril."

The old houshi nodded and turned away. "Do you require any service of me before you leave?"

Tôjirô shook his head as he started for the shrine's exit. "Nothing, elder friend. Just pray to the Kami and wish for the protection of the innocent of Nippon, like you and Chikanaka-sensei have always done."

The old houshi felt Tôjirô leave him and sighed, sweeping the pile of needles off the smooth stones of the shrine and back into the woods where they had come from. _'Please,' _he prayed silently, _'Please let my friend's last apprentice return home safely. I fear for his life as he journeys on this path stained with blood.'_

Tôjirô looked up at the waning moon that shone down on the forest, one hand clenched tight around his staff as he began to descend the stone stairs of Tsukikage Shrine. _'I am coming, hanyou. I am coming for you.'_

_'And this time...I will show you no mercy!'_

* * *

"So in other words, this Tôjirô bastard cursed Kagome and turned her into a cat?" Kouga asked for what was possibly the thirtieth time.

"For the one hundredth time already, YES!" InuYasha barked back, glaring down at Kouga from the tree in which he was currently perching, Kagome safely contained in his lap.

"Could you two at least _try _to like each other?" Sango asked, exasperation in her voice as she polished her Hiraikotsu.

_'Easy for you to say, Sango-chan...we didn't tell you what happened at the mountain, apart from everything about InuYasha,' _Kagome thought, cuddling a little closer to InuYasha's chest as a shiver crawled down her furry spine. Ever since Kouga had started traveling with their group, Kagome had tried her damnedest to repress the memories of his intrusive hands and the plan he'd had for her in that dark cave. She'd been helped when she learned of InuYasha's predicament, though the dreams of what _could _havehappened sometimes lurked in the dark parts of her psyche.

Now, however, with Kouga's abrupt return and the addition of the dark promise that lurked between him and the rest of the group, Kagome was feeling a deep sense of foreboding, as well as a little annoyance at the fact that Kouga was being such a persistent bastard. _'When a girl says no, she means NO, and not anything else,' _Kagome thought bitterly. _'Wish someone would tell that to Kouga.' _She shuddered at the memory that drifted to the forefront of her thoughts. She was back in the dank cave, and the ōkami prince was standing over her, his hands forcefully ripping away the cloth of her shirt as he growled, _"As soon as you've been with me, you'll forget all about __**him.**__"_

InuYasha could feel the small cat trembling against his chest and felt his hatred for Kouga deepen. Of course Kagome would be remembering the time when Kouga tried to rape her in that cave, now that, thanks to Miroku's "super smart" move to invite Kouga to join their group as their translator, he was traveling with them now. Undoubtedly, Kouga planned to use this opportunity to somehow steal Kagome from him and keep her for himself, whether she was a cat or otherwise. _'If the fuckin' __ōkami __thinks he can find a cure for Kagome, then he's twice as likely to act,' _InuYasha thought bitterly. _'I've gotta stay on my toes and make sure nothing happens to her.'_

"Kagome," he murmured, low enough for Kouga to not hear him. (He was secretly thankful of Kagome's superior hearing at the moment, otherwise this wouldn't have worked.)

_"W-w-what?" _she mewed back, a tremble in her voice. Luckily, fear made her tiny meow a barely audible squeak.

"If we have a chance to talk to the others without that damn ōkami butting in...I think we should tell them about the time he tried to rape you," the hanyou breathed, one eye on Kouga as he muttered to the cat in his hands. As the dreadful words left his lips, InuYasha felt Kagome stiffen in his hands.

_"I...I don't think I can," _she moaned. _"When-when I even __**think **__about what could have happened to me on that day..."_

InuYasha didn't need to understand animals to understand what Kagome was saying at that moment; her body language was worth a thousand words. Her ears were flat against her head, her paws were tucked underneath her body, her tail curled around herself protectively. She was absolutely terrified as she relived the moments she had spent in the cave with the bastard currently sitting in their camp. On the other hand, if Miroku and Sango weren't aware of what Kouga had already tried to do, they wouldn't be prepared for what he might try next.

"Kagome, we _have _to tell them. They _have _to know what Kouga tried to do to you...so they understand that he _will _try to do it _again, _if he's given the chance." InuYasha growled at the thought, his lip curling back to reveal his fangs. "Not that there's a chance in _Hell _that I'll _ever _let him touch you again."

At that moment, Kouga rose from his spot beside the fire, tossing the fish bones and the stick into the fire. "I'm tired of hangin' around you boring humans. I'm gonna go check on my wolves."

_"You're not gonna...bring them back __**here**__, are you?" _Kagome asked, pawing slightly at InuYasha's hands as she scooted up against his chest.

"Of course not, which reminds me-I still have to punish them for trying to eat you! Later fools!" With a cheeky wave, Kouga ran into the woods, blasting the group behind him with wind.

_'__**You're **__the one who tried to feed me to them!' _Kagome thought, whimpering slightly as she tucked her still wounded tail more closely to her body.

InuYasha leaped down from the tree and sat down by the fire, a scowl on his face. "Finally, that fuckin' ōkami is outta here!"

"It's only temporary, InuYasha," Miroku corrected. "Kouga is only checking on his wolves."

"Yeah, well, I wish he _was _goin' away," InuYasha growled. "It'd be easier on Kagome if he was gone."

Everyone stared at him, astounded by what looked to them like ungodly intuition. "Are-are you seriously admitting that you fighting with Kouga troubles Kagome-chan?" Sango asked, almost breathless with what was suspiciously close to awe.

"I wasn't," InuYasha said, a little confused. "But..." Kagome whimpered, butting her head against InuYasha's hand as she mewled at him to stop. _'Sorry, Kagome,' _he thought, raising one hand to scratch her forehead. _'We have to tell them.'_

Kagome buried her face in InuYasha's haori, her eyes tightly shut. _'Oh, Kami...'_

InuYasha sighed, scratching Kagome's head a little more forcefully. "There's...there's something I've gotta tell ya. Something important."

* * *

The hebi youkai writhed on the ground, its body wreathed in light blue lightning as it shrank and withered into a small grass snake, its tongue flicking out from between its fangs as it hissed abuse at its tormentor. "You think you can harm me now? Wishful thinking, _at best, _youkai." Tôjirô walked over to the place where the grass snake was lying and ripped the sealing ofuda off the ground at the hebi's side. "You are now harmless. Farewell, youkai."

Tôjirô started off into the deep darkness of the forest, his eyes squinted tight to dissect the darkness. Only a few minutes had passed when a soft voice drifted to him, too soft to be easily pinned down in the shadowy glade. "So, _you're _the spell-caster who turns youkai into animals."

Tôjirô whipped around, one hand in his robes, clenched tightly around the sealing ofuda he had just placed in the front of his robes. "Who dares address me so familiarly? Where are you, youkai?"

A woman stepped out of the shadows; she was dressed like a miko, but her aura was that of-

"You are-you are _dead?_" Tôjirô cried, taking an automatic step back. "But...but how in the name of the Kami are you still moving and functioning like a _living being_?"

The woman raised an eyebrow, her pale face blank, though her eyes were sparkling with a sad sort of mirth. "It is the result of unfinished business and a spell that was never meant to take place."

"But a holy person such as yourself should know...should...wait a second," Tôjirô trailed off, his eyes narrowing as he glared calculatingly at the undead miko before him. "You seem...very familiar...have I met you before?" Tôjirô asked, confusion coloring his gray eyes.

"Not me, but my reincarnation," the woman corrected him.

"Your...reincarnation?" Tôjirô looked confused for a split second, then his face broke out in alarm and anger. "Then-_you're _the dark miko who plagued the city? Not...not...dammit, you evil woman!" Tôjirô pointed a finger domineeringly at the woman standing in front of him, his face fixed in an almost angry scowl. "You _planned _this, didn't you? You planned for that poor, innocent woman to fall into our hands and get cursed in your place, isn't that so?"

"Only in your head, houshi," she replied, her brown eyes narrowing. "You see plans, plots and deception when there isn't any; the red hood of hatred has been lowered over your eyes, and cannot be removed."

"I don't need soul-reading from you, dark miko," Tôjirô snarled. "Now, I will do the deed that has remained uncompleted since I arrived in the city; I will render the dark miko helpless once and for all!" Tôjirô threw his ofuda at the 'dark miko,' raising his hand in preparation for the spell.

However, his pleasure was not to be. Kikyou (for it was her) raised her hand and knocked the ofuda out of the air. Before it could hit the ground it burst into blue fire and disintegrated into ashes. "As if your spell could ever work on me," Kikyou said disdainfully. "Like you said, I am one of the dead. Even so, I have more power than you could ever imagine in your wildest dreams."

"Y-you _dare _mock me?" Tôjirô hissed, eyes narrowing as his fist clenched on his staff. "Then maybe turning you into an animal would be too tame a fate for one like you, mm? No, for you it shall be _death!_" Tôjirô leaped up into the air, the staff held high over his head. With a challenging yell, he swung it down hard, the metal star whistling menacingly through the air as it headed for Kikyou's head.

"Once again, you think wrong, houshi," Kikyou said. A barrier popped into existence, throwing Tôjirô backwards into a tree.

"Damn you, you undead wretch," he growled, wiping the blood that trickled from his mouth away. "I _will_ exorcise you, like I should have done to that fucking dog back in the city."

"Do you speak of InuYasha?" Kikyou asked, her brow furrowing slightly.

"I don't care what his name is; he defies me every moment he can and dares to fuck humans," Tôjirô growled, the hand on his staff clenching so tightly that the veins popped out, throbbing menacingly.

Kikyou flinched slightly, but she managed to stay composed. "Do _not _speak ill of InuYasha."

"What _is _that hanyou to you, anyway?" Tôjirô asked, eyes narrowing again as he pushed himself to his feet. "Don't tell me _you _are one of the humans he's bedded." Tôjirô shuddered as he used his free hand to cover his eyes. "Fucking a dead person...I can't believe him. Not only is he a cad, a liar and a hanyou, he's a necrophiliac on top of all of that. Even for one of my long years, it's practically unbelievable."

"I told you, do _not _speak ill of InuYasha," Kikyou said, her voice dropping to a soft snarl.

"I'll speak of him however I like, bitch," Tôjirô replied. "I bore of our encounter, though. Since I cannot harm you, I suppose I will let you go on your way for now. Be warned, though, if I see you again and you're still on the wrong side of justice, I will find a way to slay you."

"The same goes for you, houshi. I cannot forgive the things you have done and said to InuYasha, but I am not yet back to my full strength." Without further ado, Kikyou turned away and began to walk. Her step was a little wobbly, but her back was proud as she stalked away. _'Grr...I would never stoop so low as to attack an opponent's back, but in this case, I am __**sorely **__tempted,' _Tôjirô thought to himself, his fist so tight that his blunt nails were burrowing into his palm.

When the houshi got his temper back under control, he turned his face turned to the sky, up to the sparkling stars and the less-than-full moon. _'Forgive me, dear Kami...I attacked a helpless innocent who was only guilty of being an evil miko's reincarnation. I'll bet she was seduced by that hanyou and spelled to obey his every whim. It wouldn't be the first time I've encountered something like that. I should have seen the signs...the poor thing...'_

Tôjirô straightened up and adjusted his sugegasa. _'I shall right the wrongs and set you free, you poor soul! I shall kill the hanyou that holds you captive and break the spell on you!'_

* * *

Silence ruled totally and completely in the campsite. Not even the crackling fire seemed to have any effect on the terribly potent silence. InuYasha's narrative had long since come to an end, but the terrible message he had imparted on his friends weighed heavily on their hearts. Nobody wanted to speak and address what might happen next; what needed to happen next.

"Dear Buddha," Miroku finally murmured, "I had no idea that...that...that Kouga had even tried to...to do such a thing to you." Moving jerkily, the houshi leaned forward and grasped Kagome's paws with his hands, like he had done when he had asked her to bear his child. Kagome could feel that his intent was not perverted this time, which was good. It would have been way too weird if it had been. "Please forgive me, Kagome-sama. This must be so hard on you, seeing the youkai who almost raped you," Miroku said, his eyes sparkling much like they did when he was doing something perverted.

Kagome shuddered. _"Don't remind me."_

InuYasha knocked Miroku's hands away as he grabbed Kagome and tucked her close to his chest. "Don't fondle Kagome like that! Anyway, you know the story now. So, what the fuck are we gonna do about that damn ōkami?"

"What was that, puppy?"

Kouga jumped through the last of the clinging foliage that surrounded the camp and landed right beside InuYasha, his blue eyes narrowing suspiciously. "Are you talking about offing me, inu-korro? You should know by now that I won't go so easily. As long as your filthy paws are on my Kagome, I will _never _die," Kouga growled.

"_My _filthy paws? Let me tell ya, you damn ōkami," InuYasha started, leaping to his feet and tucking Kagome closer to his chest.

"Hold on," Miroku intervened, getting to his feet and coming in between the two of them again. "There is no need to fight now and injure yourselves. Rest and recuperate, and perhaps, try not to kill each other quite yet?"

Kouga and InuYasha both glared at Miroku, their eyes narrowing dangerously as they did so. "Bouzou, are you _really _interfering again? After what I just _told _you?" InuYasha asked incredulously.

"InuYasha, we need to _wait. _Maybe tomorrow we can come up with a _plan,_" Miroku answered, his eyebrows jiggling up and down in a suggestive way as he did so.

"What d-OW!" Kagome had bitten InuYasha's hand again, although this time wasn't hard enough to draw blood. _'Stay quiet, InuYasha, or better yet, harp on about how I bit you and how you'll never forgive me, yada yada yada. I think Miroku-sama might be coming up with a plan of action, and if we just keep quiet...'_

Kouga started laughing. "See! _My _Kagome doesn't like being held by you, inu-korro!"

"Did she _say _that she didn't like being held by me?" InuYasha hissed back.

_'Oh, please have some sort of plan, Miroku-sama!'_


	23. Tensions Snap

The bright diamonds that were the stars twinkled down from the black carpet of the sky, illuminating a scene that was not even one-half as beautiful as the heavens above. Ever since InuYasha had told the group at large about what Kouga had tried to do to Kagome, none of the others trusted him farther than they could throw him, which, in some cases, was rather far. Because of that, none of them felt comfortable sleeping around the ōkami, almost like he was a live bomb that was only seconds away from exploding.

Of course, Kouga noticed the sudden surge of ill will toward him; the air was thick with suspicion and fear, not to mention the abrupt loss of interest from InuYasha's human companions regarding his actions toward Kouga. Also, Kagome was shooting Kouga distrustful looks every now and then, as though she were wishing that anyone else in the world was sitting in the space that Kouga was currently inhabiting, instead of...well, Kouga.

"Why the hell are you guys all uptight?" Kouga finally asked, flinging a stick down into the fire as he stood up, his blue eyes sparkling wildly in the flames as his gaze was cast about the campsite, first to the humans, then to the two youkai, then finally to InuYasha and the cat who was Kagome. "Ever since I came back from checkin' on my wolves, you guys have acted like I was _Naraku, _or something! So _spill_-what did I do?"

Everyone tensed involuntarily.

_'Didn't think he'd figure __**that **__out so quickly,' _Sango thought. _'As brains go, Kouga is only a little bit higher than InuYasha in that field.'_

_'Hmmm...this isn't good,' _Miroku thought, brow furrowing slightly as he poked the fire with a stick. _'What to do...'_

_'Dear Kami, don't let him figure out that we all know about...about what happened to me,' _Kagome thought, her heartbeat speeding up to the speed of a runaway train as she burrowed into InuYasha's haori. _'If I was normal, I...I could have a chance of beating him off, if I could figure out how to harness-oh, who am I kidding? I'm stuck as a cat, and if Kouga decides to take me, I have about as much chance of dissuading him as fish have of learning to fly!'_

_'Dammit, I __**won't **__let him do anything to Kagome!' _InuYasha growled to himself, tucking the small cat closer to his chest and his own pounding heartbeat.

Shippou, however, stood up straight on his tiny paws, arms crossed over his chest as he closed his eyes knowingly and said, "Why does it always have to be about you, Kouga?"

Kouga blinked and looked down at Shippou, a mixture of confusion and injured pride on his face. "What the fuck do you mean by that?" he demanded, stepping closer so that he loomed like a gigantic juggernaut over the much smaller Shippou.

The kitsune gulped slightly and stuttered out, "I...I was just saying that...that we were only depressed because...because we have no new leads on the houshi that cursed In-I mean, Kagome!" Everyone gave Shippou the 'shut up!' gesture, but too late; Shippou's loose tongue had struck again.

"What was that? What were you about to say, kit?" Kouga asked, a little too sweetly as he thumped one fist into his hand and cracked his knuckles threateningly. "And I wouldn't advise any of your trickery, kitsune. I'm not exactly the forgiving type...know what I mean?"

Shippou thought about it for about 0.004 seconds; tell Kouga the truth and remain in one piece, or keep the secret and get walloped into a bloody, unrecognizable pulp. Needless to say, the kitsune went with option number one. "It-wasn't-Kagome-who-was-originally-cursed-it-was-InuYasha-but-a-weird-twist-of-fate-meant-that-Kagome-got-cursed-with-InuYasha's-spells!" Shippou blurted, so fast that everyone almost missed it.

Almost.

"_What?_" Kouga shouted, whipping about and glaring at InuYasha with enraged blue eyes. "Is that _true?_"

InuYasha opened his mouth to start denying it, but Shippou intercepted him, saying (more slowly this time,) "Kagome sacrificed her humanity so InuYasha could be normal again. Kikyou helped her get the spells off InuYasha and onto her."

There was a few seconds of silence. An owl hooted somewhere in the distance, followed shortly by the rustle of leaves as it took off into the night. Then Kouga launched himself across the fire. Before anyone could even think, he had grabbed InuYasha by the throat and ripped him from the spot where he was sitting. The hanyou's back slammed against a tree as Kagome toppled out of his lap, squealing madly as she hit the ground and rolled off into the underbrush.

"I _knew _it," Kouga snarled, his blue eyes boring furiously into InuYasha's golden ones, "I _knew _you had something to do with it, inu-korro! What have you _done? _WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY KAGOME?"

"_YOUR _Kagome?" InuYasha snarled, his own hands coming up to clench Kouga's wrist. "I've told ya over and over, she's not _yours! _She's _NEVER _been yours, baka ōkami! Even if there was the slightest chance that she could _ever _want you, it was destroyed when you fuckin' tried to _rape her!_"

"Oh, is _that_ what this is about?" Kouga barked, his fist closing slowly over InuYasha's throat. "That little scene in the cave?"

"What the fuck did you _think _this was about, retard?" the hanyou snapped back, his claws now digging into Kouga's wrist. "You _forced _yourself on her! She was _begging _you to stop, and you fuckin' _ignored her, _bastard!"

"Because she was being _stupid!_" the ōkami roared. "If she'd just calmed down and cooperated, she could've learned what it was like to be with a-"

"I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS!" Suddenly, InuYasha used the tree behind him to lift both of his legs off the ground and lashed out at Kouga's stomach with his feet. The ōkami was launched backwards into the fire, yowling as his fur was singed.

"You-!" Kouga's two shards gleamed with power as he charged toward the inu-hanyou, claws outstretched and fangs bared. "It's about time _someone _put you to sleep, puppy!"

"In your dreams, fuckin' ōkami! I beat you once, an' I can DO IT AGAIN!" InuYasha squared his shoulders, dug his heels into the ground and gritted his teeth, readying himself for the ōkami's attack.

The two canine youkai collided with a bone-jarring _WHAM. _Then the two of them began fighting, much like the time long before in the cave, except this time Kouga was the attacker and not the attacked. At first, it was only dust and pebbles that were kicked about by the scuffle as the two of them rolled about in the clearing, punching and kicking each other, their howls increasing as more blows landed. But as the fight progressed to a more animal-like level, blood began to fly from the battling pair. It splattered against the trees and sprayed the bushes, the ground running red with the blood of both ōkami-youkai and inu-hanyou.

_"Stop it! STOP IT!" _Kagome's scream went unheard as the blood-lust ran rampant between the two canines. Both of them were fed up with each other, both of them desired the same maiden and both of them were not about to let their rival have her. _'Oh Kami, they're gonna kill each other!' _Kagome ran around them, her paws splashing slightly in the blood that surrounded InuYasha and Kouga, her eyes wide with terror and worry.

"Dear Kami, they might kill each other!" Sango cried. "Houshi-sama, we have to help InuYasha!"

"I know, but look at them!" Miroku gestured to the scarlet and sandy brown whirlwind. "We could try to help and end up hurting InuYasha! We need to try to wait for things to calm down a bit!"

"It's all my fault!" Shippou wailed, great tears falling out of his eyes. "If InuYasha dies, I...I..."

Kirara yowled, leaping forward to try and help InuYasha out. Just as she was about to enter the whirlwind, a fur-clad leg caught her a heavy blow on the jaw, sending her spinning away into the forest, her head smashing into a tree and knocking her unconscious.

Then Kagome leaped into the fray, her cat mouth wide open as a terrible yowl exited her throat. _"NOOOOOOOOO!"_

There was an explosion of light, a flash that seemed to go on forever, lighting the whole forest with a pure, white light.

* * *

Not too far away, Tôjirô was walking through the forest, searching for signs of trouble, when a white light leaped up into the air, pure and frightening as it rended the air with its exorcising beauty. _'What in the name of all the Kami...?'_

The houshi changed direction, following the light to wherever it might lead him.

* * *

Miroku, Sango and Shippou slowly lifted their hands away from their faces, eyes dazzled by the light that had emanated from the place where Kagome had leaped when she placed herself in between InuYasha and Kouga.

"What happened?" Shippou whimpered.

"I don-Look!" Sango pointed toward the smoking, blood-soaked soil that marked the place where the hanyou and the ōkami had fought.

Kouga was slowly getting up from the place where he had been thrown. Apart from the wounds that InuYasha had given him, there were also bad burns on his face and arms. They were the sort of burns that a youkai would receive if he had gone up against a miko or houshi.

"Uuuurgh...what the fuck happened to me?" Kouga moaned, one of his burned arms gingerly rubbing the other one.

"Enough," a soft voice growled. Kouga turned to see Kagome facing him. But it wasn't the cat Kagome he saw; it was Kagome in her true human form with not a shred of cat on her. Watching the man she loved fighting, seeing his blood getting churned into the soil was more than enough for Kagome's soul to go into turmoil. Much like InuYasha had done before, her soul had broken through the bonded spells. The resulting surge of reiki created the explosion of light that had knocked the two canine youkai apart.

"What're...what're you doin'...Kagome?" Kouga asked dazedly. Now that he could see her more clearly, he realized that Kagome's body was draped protectively over InuYasha's. Unlike Kouga, the inu-hanyou hadn't been so lucky as to keep his consciousness. InuYasha had been kicked repeatedly by Kouga's shikon-no-kakera infused legs, clawed to shreds by the ōkami-youkai and generally exhausted from the day's running. The addition of Kagome's reiki had proven too much for his injured and wearied body to take.

The aforementioned ōkami slowly staggered up and stumbled over to where Kagome was lying. He lifted one hand as if to touch her face. "_Stay away from me,_" Kagome gritted out, lowering herself over the unconscious hanyou, her hands clenching about his shoulders as her reiki spiked again. "I will _never _let you touch InuYasha _again_, do you hear me?"

"Give...give up on inu-korro...already," the ōkami wheezed. "Any-anyone can see that the baka inu's lost this fight."

"I don't _care _if InuYasha won or lost," Kagome snapped. "I choose _him, _and I'd rather _die _than go with anyone else. Get lost, Kouga. I don't want to see you ever again."

Kouga felt his tattered spirits deflate even further. Even though inu-korro was unconscious, the ōkami could have sworn that he could hear the inu-hanyou's laughter ringing in his head. _'Damn it all to Hell and back,' _he thought, his head drooping slightly. _'That damned inu-korro...he was right. Kagome...Kagome's...she's never belonged to me, has she? __Even if she did...I guess I blew my last chance to make her mine tonight.' _Defeated, humiliated and brokenhearted, Kouga turned around and began to run into the forest, his legs wobbling as the wounds from his fight took their toll on his body.

"Where the hell does he think he's going?" Sango asked furiously.

"Don't worry about it, dear Sango," Miroku said soothingly. "I believe Kouga has learned his lesson. It's InuYasha and Kagome-sama we need to worry about now." The group headed over to the place where the smoke was still coming from, tendrils of it wrapping about their ankles as they rose into the air.

Kagome's eyelids grew heavy as her burst of reiki took its toll on her body's energy. Her hand moved to the dark bruises that covered her hanyou's cheeks, stroking them with a trembling gentility. "InuYasha?" she whispered. "Are you all right?"

InuYasha's left eyelid trembled, then opened, a thin sliver of gold and black peeping out at the world. "Fuckin'...ōkami. Got...got away, didn't he?" he growled softly.

"Don't worry," Kagome said, tears welling up in her eyes as her fingers gently stroked his cheek. "You won, InuYasha. Kouga won't be coming back."

"Fuck yeah...I won again." The hanyou's bleeding lips broke out into a pained parody of his favorite smirk. "Told...told 'im I wouldn't lose...not when it concerned you."

Kagome laid her head against his chest, her eyes drooping shut as the last of her energy left her. "I'm glad..."

As Miroku and Sango rushed over to InuYasha's side, the miko's body shrank and rippled, changing slowly, gradually, until all that was left of her was a tiny black cat who was resting on a wounded hanyou's chest.

* * *

Tôjirô slowly removed the ofuda from the ground, his gray eyes triumphant. "That will teach you for letting your wolves feed on helpless humans, disgusting ōkami youkai," he gloated, eyes sparkling maliciously.

The wolves around him whined softly as they approached a dusty brown wolf on the ground. His wounds were gone, but the spell had drained him of the rest of his energy. The shikon-no-kakera that had been in his legs were now on the ground, sparkling in the dim moonlight. "Hmm?" Tôjirô crouched down, bringing his face closer to the twinkling pink rocks. "Is that shikon-no-kakera?" Ignoring the wolf's pained growls, the houshi picked up the shards and looked at them in triumph. "What fortune I caught this youkai before he could wreak havoc on humanity!"

The wolf growled at him, but it was still too weak to do much besides growl. Tôjirô spared the wolf a sideways glance. "You think you can oppose me, wolf? I can subdue you with only _one blow_." The houshi lifted his staff and brought it down hard in the middle of the group. Blue lightning sprang up, crackling around the clearing like a tempest of flies. The wolves howled and yelped. Two of them seized their leader by the scruff of his neck and helped him run away. The last of the wolves' tails vanished into the brush as Tôjirô's spell abated. "As I said...there's no youkai _born_ that can face me."

Tôjirô's smirk grew to cover his face as he tucked the shikon-no-kakera into his robes. _'Beware, hanyou...I am coming for you.'_

* * *

reiki-holy or pure energy

shikon-no-kakera: Sacred Jewel shards


	24. Even Though This Was Bad Enough

After they cleaned him up a little, Miroku and Sango discovered that InuYasha's wounds weren't as grievous as they had first thought. He had claw-marks on his chest and arms, his face and stomach were bruised and it looked like his left ankle was sprained. "Considering that it's InuYasha we're talking about, I think these injuries are not that serious," Miroku observed. "As long as we keep an eye on him, he'll be all right."

"W-what about Kagome?" Shippou sniffed, wiping the tears away from his large emerald eyes. "Did-did she get hurt?"

Sango smiled down at Shippou. "No, she just exhausted her powers when she let off that light. I think if she sleeps for a while, she'll be fine."

Shippou gave the taijiya a wobbly smile. "G-g-g-good." The kitsune looked down at the tiny cat, whom they had placed on the pink sleeping bag that Kagome had used to sleep on while she had been human. She was breathing regularly, although the tip of her tail was at the back of her neck since she was curled up so tightly. They had put her next to InuYasha, whom they'd bandaged fairly well, despite the fact that the hanyou was dreaming about the fight with Kouga and thought that the people taking care of him were actually trying to tear him apart. Both Miroku and Sango had barely managed to avoid injury.

However, InuYasha and Kagome were showing signs of improvement, Kagome more so than InuYasha, since she was truly unharmed. Soon, the small cat was stirring, her eyes fluttering open as she slowly made it back to consciousness. _"NNnnnrgh..."_Kagome slowly stretched her limbs, flexing her claws and tail as she slowly extended her muscles.

Then she realized what she was doing. Kagome looked down at her paws and the lick of white fur on her chest, her mind feeling numb with shock and disappointment. _'But...but...but I could have sworn that I was human!' _Kagome's tail curled slowly around her body, hiding her paws from view as her ears drooped. _'No...why can't I just be human?'_

"Kagome-chan? Are you awake?" Kagome lifted her head to see Sango staring down at her, concern shining brightly in her eyes.

_"I'm fine, Sango-chan," _Kagome mewed. _"But what about InuYasha? Is he all right? Please tell me Kouga didn't kill him!" _Kagome's tail writhed on the sleeping bag as her meows became more frantic.

"If you're wondering about InuYasha, he's really all right," Sango soothed. "The wounds he got weren't actually that serious by his standards. By tomorrow morning, he'll be all right." _'I think,' _she added silently.

Kagome looked over to where InuYasha was lying. When she saw her hanyou lying on his back, silver hair fanned out underneath him like a great moonlit stain, his body limp and his face peaceful, a loud cry exited her throat as she leaped over and jumped onto his chest, mewing in his face as a familiar wetness welled in her eyes.

_"InuYasha! INUYASHA!" _

"Uuurgh...shuddup, whoever you are." Slowly, his eyelids opened, revealing his drowsed golden eyes. "Stop your damn caterwaulin', will ya?" Then, as the hanyou's focus became clearer, he saw just who was caterwauling in his face. "Oh," he mumbled, a slight blush crossing his cheeks. "Sorry, K'gome."

If Kagome had been human at the moment, she probably would have given InuYasha a half-smile; as it was, she gave him a cat-smile, which looked about the same as not smiling. _"Don't worry about it. At least you're alive. Which reminds me-" _Kagome lifted one paw and swatted InuYasha's nose as hard as she could. Given the delicate nature of the instrument in question, she was likely to get an-

"OW! What the fuck was that for?" InuYasha lifted one arm and slowly rubbed the offending appendage, glaring at Kagome as he did so.

"I think," Miroku said slowly, trying to hide the twinkle of amusement that had entered his amethyst eyes, "that Kagome-sama is trying to say she's not too pleased with what you did."

InuYasha huffed, glaring down at Kagome as he rubbed his nose sulkily. "Still, I wish you'd sto-"

InuYasha's sentence fell apart when Kagome leaned forward and gave his cheek a rough lick with her small pink tongue. _"You idiot; I'm glad you're okay," _Kagome told him, a purr vibrating through her body as she nuzzled his cheek.

InuYasha sat up slowly, grimacing as the wounds on his chest protested, one hand carefully clutching Kagome so she wouldn't be dumped ungraciously onto the ground. "Fuckin' Kouga," he growled as his wounds threatened to tear open again.

"InuYasha, you mustn't move! Your wounds will open again!" Shippou cried as he leaped onto InuYasha's shoulder.

_"He's right, InuYasha," _Kagome mewed, nuzzling InuYasha's hand until her head went underneath his palm, purring when his fingers automatically started scratching her forehead. _"You're hurt, and you don't need to open your wounds again."_

"Dammit, I wish I could understand you, Kagome," InuYasha swore, even as his claws tickled the soft skin underneath the cat's chin. "It'd make things a hell of a lot easier for us."

"Why can't you?" Sango suddenly asked. "Why can't you understand her?" The taijiya turned around and looked at Shippou. "Or you, Shippou-chan?"

"I dunno," Shippou said, shrugging.

"That's just cuz you're just a baby kitsune who's more like a human kid than a kit," InuYasha snapped, ears flattening against his chest as his arm wobbled and threatened to dump him back onto the ground.

"No I'm not!" Shippou cried, pummeling his tiny fists against InuYasha's head (one of the only uninjured things on his body) as his teeth attacked his ears. Unconcernedly, InuYasha lifted his hand from Kagome's head and picked the kitsune up by his tail, lifting the squalling kit far enough from his head to not be affected by his flailing fists.

"Maybe in five hundred years you'll know enough to learn how to understand animals," InuYasha taunted.

"That could be true," Miroku interrupted, taking Shippou out of InuYasha's hand before the kit could hurt himself. "But still-why can't you understand Kagome-sama, InuYasha?"

The hanyou's ears drooped as his face became ashamed. "I'm a hanyou. My human blood prevents me from learning how to understand animals, since humans could never understand animals unless they speak a human's language."

"Oh." An awkward silence descended on the clearing as InuYasha's sad words washed over the group at large. As the humans and youkai tried to decide what to say, Kagome butted InuYasha's hand with her head, and the hanyou's fingers started scratching her ears again.

"I'm sorry," Sango said quietly.

"Sorry for what? It ain't your fault," InuYasha muttered. Kagome mewed at him, her brown eyes trying to look comforting as her purr radiated throughout her small body.

"So...when d'you think your wounds will heal, InuYasha?" Miroku asked to try and divert his hanyou friend's attention from the inescapable life that fate had set upon him.

"Feh! They'll be gone by the time I wake up tomorrow," InuYasha snorted. "I've had worse."

"I see," Miroku replied. "What about your ankle, though?"

"What about it?"

"It's sprained, isn't it? Do sprains heal as fast as wounds for you?"

InuYasha shrugged. "I dunno. It's been a long time since anything like that happened to me."

_"You should just take it easy, then, until you feel better," _Kagome told him, settling down on InuYasha's stomach and resting her head on her paws.

"Well, if you don't need anything else, InuYasha, we're going to sleep," Sango told him. "We've been up for a long time to look after you."

"Don't blame me for not letting you sleep," InuYasha growled defensively, ears flattening against his head.

"I wasn't, InuYasha," Sango sighed. "Take care of him, Kagome-chan."

Kagome let out a little 'fuf,' a cat's equivalent of a sigh. _"I'll do my best."_

InuYasha waited until Sango, Shippou and Miroku had settled down for the night. Then, when their breathing had descended into the more rhythmic pattern that signified sleep, the hanyou got up, grimacing as his wounds twinged and his ankle throbbed. "C'mon, Kagome," he muttered.

_"You idiot! Lay back down, you're too hurt to get up!" _Kagome mewled, wriggling in the hanyou's grasp as she berated him.

"Shut up, Kagome," InuYasha growled, his fingers moving to hold Kagome's muzzle shut. "I wanna talk to you, an' I don't want _those two,_" his free hand gestured to Miroku and Shippou, "to eavesdrop on us." Kagome made a small muffled noise of disagreement, but decided to comply. After all, when InuYasha put his mind to something, he was not to be dissuaded. InuYasha managed to hop into a low-lying tree a short ways away from the camp, his teeth bared as he withheld several nasty swear words every time his ankle throbbed-which was pretty fucking often. _'Damn, I've had broken bones that didn't hurt this much!'_

_"Please, InuYasha," _Kagome pleaded, her tail curling about his arm, _"Please stop pushing yourself if it hurts too much!"_

InuYasha snorted as he looked down at Kagome. "I dunno what you said, but you need to stop worryin' about me! I keep tellin' ya, these wounds are nothing."

Kagome blinked up at him, then shrugged her tiny shoulders. The miko/cat walked in a small circle before settling down in InuYasha's red-clad lap, her head resting carefully against the hanyou's bruised stomach. She knew that when InuYasha wanted to talk about something, you had to give him some time to muster his words before he would speak. So she waited.

"Kagome...you managed to throw off Tôjirô's spells for a little bit, didn't you? Miroku and Sango were talking about how your reiki just _exploded _when you jumped in between me'n Kouga, like someone had thrown a fuckin' flash-bomb between us." Kagome didn't miss the unwilling awe in InuYasha's voice. She didn't feel like she deserved it.

_"I hurt you, though," _she mewed, head dipping down in shame as her ears went flat. _"I hurt you."_

"Calm down, Kagome," InuYasha told her. "I've told you again and again that I'm fuckin' _fine. _Anyway, d'you think you could become human again?"

Kagome shook her head. _"I spent nearly three hours unconscious last time I did it; not only that, I wasn't thinking about what I was doing when...when..." _Kagome trailed off, unable to say "When you and Kouga were fighting each other." Even if InuYasha couldn't understand her, the memory of how the two canine youkai had nearly torn each other to pieces caused a deep shudder to crawl down her spine.

"Damn...well, it's something, right?" When Kagome still looked sad, InuYasha scowled, moving his hand so that it was under her belly, then lifting her up before she could get away from him. "Dammit, Kagome, stop bein' so fuckin' depressed! Usually it's _me _who's the pessimist and _you _who's always cheerin' _me _up, not the other way around! So start lookin' on the bright side so I can stop doin' stuff that I ain't used ta doin'!"

_"Nice choice of words there, InuYasha," _Kagome said sarcastically, but she felt better anyway. Paws dangling, stomach squashed and breath nearly stopped, Kagome still managed a cat-smile at the determined look on InuYasha's face.

_'You're right, InuYasha...just because my human form's been stolen from me doesn't mean I can give up hope.' _Kagome looked up at the stars, the twinkling sky reflected perfectly in her brown irises as InuYasha placed her back on his lap and leaned back against the trunk of the tree with a small grunt.

_'If I give up hope now, it'll be the same as giving up my humanity forever.'_

* * *

In the middle of a long-abandoned mine, in the midst of a veil of poison, a black and silver striped hebi-youkai slithered over the old wood and the ancient skeletons of those unfortunate enough to be caught in the invasion of the hebi clan, making his slow and winding way toward the clan's main gathering room. The snakes hissed and parted, letting the other snake pass through as he headed for the center of the poisonous vapors. _**"Dokuga-dono," **_the hebi-youkai hissed, its forked tongue flicking out from between its teeth. _**"Where isss Dokuga-dono?"**_

_**"I am here." **_

Over the weaving and bobbing heads of the other hebi youkai there came one that was larger than the rest, a crown of human skulls resting on the flat scales on his head. His scarlet eyes were milky with age, but his many years were not present in the strong coiled muscles or the bright acid green of his jagged scales. _**"My sssson," **_the gigantic hebi youkai hissed, slithering over the masses of snakes as he headed toward his messenger. _**"Where isss Dokukan?"**_

The hebi youkai bowed its head, its red eyes unblinking as it hissed, _**"One thousssand apologiesss, my lord. Dokukan-sssama isss...lossst."**_

The gigantic snake reared, his blunt snout nearly reaching the top of the cavern as venom dripped out of his mouth and splattered on the floor, burning holes in the rock beneath his coils. _**"Lossst? LOSSST? The lassst heir of the royal Terumasssa hebi youkai cannot be LOSSST! What hasss happened? Why do you sssay my ssson is LOSSST?"**_

The hebi youkai followed the example the others were setting as he slowly backed away, his black and silver head bowed as he slowly mumbled, _**"I sssearched far and wide, Dokuga-dono. Dokukan-sssama'sss ssscent traveled through the foressst, but it ended at a clearing. I could not find Dokukan-sssama...but the clearing sssmelled of...humansss."**_

_**"Humansss?" **_Dokuga reared again, his fangs flashing as his mouth opened wide in a grimace of anger. _**"There isss no human that hasss ever crawled out of itsss mother'ssss womb that wasss able to ssslay even a hatchling from the weakessst clan of hebi youkai!"**_

_**"There were alssso tracesss of reiki, Dokuga-dono," **_the snake mumbled, edging slowly away from the enraged snake. _**"Methinksss it wasss a houssshi what killed Dokukan-sssama."**_

_**"Do you?" **_Before the poor messenger could react, Dokuga lunged forth and ripped the hebi youkai's head off, swallowing it whole as the youkai's body dissolved into venomous vapors thanks to the youkai's dripping venom. The hebi lord turned back to the others snakes, rearing up and displaying his acidic green hood as he addressed his clans-folk._**"If Dokukan doesss lie ssslain, and a human houssshi isss resssponsssible, then we mussst take retribution. Let it not be sssaid that Dokuga never took revenge for ssslain sssonsss of the tribe! There isss a human tribe nearby...they will feel our wrath!"**_

One brave diamond-patterned youkai slithered forward and called out, _**"With ressspect, Dokuga-dono, how will that avenge Dokukan-sssama? Sssurely we mussst attack his killer."**_

Dokuga whipped his snout about, catching the unfortunate hebi youkai on his head and sending him spinning into the walls of the great cavern. _**"Fool," **_he hissed, _**"If thisss murderer isss a houssshi, then the deathsss of humansss will draw him clossser and clossser to ussss...and when he arrivesss..." **_Dokuga began slithering out of the old mine, followed by the rest of his clan. His black tongue flickered out from between his jaws as his red eyes flashed evilly.

_**"I myssself ssshall sssend him to the deepessst pitsss of Hell!"**_

* * *

dokuga: poison fang

dokukan: poison gland/duct

hebi-youkai: snake demon


	25. All THIS Had To Happen

Miroku used one hand to shade his eyes against the glare of the sun as he surveyed the landscape stretching out beneath the hill. "I think there's a village over there," he called back to the rest of the group. "We could stop there while we recover."

"Recover from what? _I'm _feelin' fine, bouzou!"

Miroku sighed as he turned to face InuYasha. The inu-hanyou was wearing a scowl on his face as he slowly stalked closer to where Miroku and Sango stood. _'His wounds are indeed faring much better than they were before,' _Miroku thought, _'But the bruises that he got from Kouga's legs have yet to heal, as well as that sprained ankle. Sango and I have been talking, and we think that Kouga's hatred for InuYasha must have infused his shikon-no-kakera, filling them with some sort of power. That power either prevents InuYasha from healing or slows down the healing process...most likely the latter.' _Miroku watched InuYasha limping slightly as he headed over to them and felt a sense of trepidation settle over him. _'I hope everything will be all right.'_

"Maybe you are, InuYasha," Miroku sighed, "but Sango and I would like to rest, and I'm sure Kagome would, too." When he said this, the houshi looked pointedly at the cat on InuYasha's shoulder.

_"Yes, I do want to rest," _Kagome agreed, nodding so that everyone could see that she liked the idea. _"And I would __**much **__rather stay in a nice hut than sleep on the hard ground."_

Outvoted once more, InuYasha scowled darkly, tucking his hands away into the sleeves of his haori as he looked away with a "Feh!" The group ignored InuYasha as they happily nattered about what they would be able to do once they arrived at the village, moving slowly but steadily downhill as they did so. The sun shone brightly overhead, divided by the leaves of the forest canopy into bright patches of diamond-shaped light.

However, the village was not all it appeared to be from on top of the forest hill. For starters, many of the huts in the village were half-destroyed. They hadn't just been smashed, either; some huts looked like they had just been melted away. In addition to the destroyed huts, there were half-moon marks carved into the rice paddies, the fields and the pathways, almost as if something huge and heavy had been dragged across the ground multiple times in many places. Then, when they had arrived in the approximate center of the village, they saw a group of people-some wounded, others unharmed-who were huddled around something on the ground.

Kagome nearly screeched as she gasped, _"What is THAT?"_

The thing on the ground was an enormous short-snouted snake, though it was almost unseen since its coloring was similar to the ground beneath it. Its eyes were fogged over and dull, its mouth gaping open as flies flitted in and out of its nostrils. Some of the village men were using their spears to hack off the snake's head.

"Excuse me, good people," Miroku called, hurrying over to the men, hand outstretched. "My friends and I are very skilled youkai taijiya-is there anything we can assist you with?"

Upon hearing the words "Youkai taijiya," every single villager looked up, their faces changing from surprised to overjoyed. A few seconds passed before the group found themselves surrounded by excited villagers.

"You've come to help us? Oh, Kami be praised!"

"Please fight off these hebi youkai for us!"

"We'll be able to live without fear of death once more!"

"Calm down, everyone," a voice called over the rabble. The crowd fell silent as one, parting in a fluid wave to let a tall, middle-aged man come to the center of the group. From the look of respect on everyone's faces, this was the headman of the village who was standing before them. "Do you speak the truth, travelers?" the headman asked, his brown eyes both cautious and hopeful. "Can you truly help us?"

This time, it was Sango who said, "Don't worry; there are no liars amongst us," here she glared at Miroku, who tried his best not to say or do anything that would reveal just how afraid that glare made him. "If you need our help, we'll be glad to give it."

InuYasha grumbled slightly, annoyed at the prospect of being diverted from their mission for a 'good samaritain act,' as Kagome called it. The cat in question hissed quietly and batted at his cheek, telling him without words to _suck it up and stop complaining._

"Then, I shall tell you what fate has befallen our village, but first; I'm sure you must be tired after your long journey. Follow me to my house; there is food and an extra bed or two for you to use before the night comes." With that, the headman turned back and began to walk in the direction he had come from.

"Well, there's nothing better for us to do," Miroku stated, following after the headman. "Let's go and see what this problem entails, hm?"

* * *

The headman's house wasn't the finest place in the world, but the food was warm and the beds soft, so there really wasn't much to complain about. As the group consumed their dinner of fish, rice and vegetables, the headman told them about their youkai problem.

"Ever since my grandfather took over as headman of the village fifty years ago, we have heard talk about the hebi youkai clan who reside in the abandoned mine just a little ways west of this village. Anyone with even the slightest scrap of logic knows that to head to the mine is to walk into death's embrace, so we stay away from that place. We didn't bother them, so the hebi youkai didn't bother us." The headman sighed, one calloused hand coming up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "However, last night _they _came raiding. There must have been _thousands _of them, all in different colors, most of them dripping poison and coiled muscle. They stormed the village and consumed much of our livestock, as well as some of the more foolish men. Their venom dissolved some of the houses and permeated our water. As the hebi youkai tore their way through our village, I saw one in particular, which I believe to be their leader."

"What did he look like?" Miroku prompted when the headman fell silent.

The village's leader shuddered. "He was enormous; he made the other snakes look tiny by comparison! His scales were green, like some sort of acid, and he wore a crown of human skulls upon his head. He was the only one who did not attack us. All he did was slither around, calling for a 'dokukan' and for 'revenge for the fallen.' He looked mighty angry, and I hope he has satiated whatever hunger or feeling that drove him out here. I would not want to face that hoard again." A great sigh fell from his lips as the headman pushed himself wearily to his feet. "Forgive me, but I need to take leave of you now. The village is in bad shape, and I must see what needs to be repaired." With a small bow, the headman departed from the room, leaving the others alone.

The group looked at each other, digesting the story as they pushed their food aside for the time being. "How strange for them to start attacking now, unprovoked," Miroku mused. "Now, if one of the villagers had gone in and stolen something or killed one of their number, I would understand...but to attack completely out of the blue..."

"Maybe they're trying to draw attention to themselves," Shippou suggested. "Y'know, in case the 'dokukan' they're looking for is around here somewhere, an' they wanna get its attention or something."

"I suppose that could be it," Miroku conceded. "It is still very odd behavior for youkai, though."

"Agreed," Sango said, her eyes thoughtful.

"I don't care _what _their motive is," InuYasha growled, lifting the Tetsusaiga from its resting place beside his leg and letting an inch or so of scarred blade slide out from the sheath. "If there's youkai out there who're intent on killin' humans, I ain't gonna let that slide!"

_"I thought you didn't want to do a good samaritain act, InuYasha," _Kagome giggled, looking up from the dish of milk and fish that the headman had given her and meowing loudly.

InuYasha looked down at the small coal-black cat, one eyebrow raised at the sparkle in her brown eye. _'Dunno what she just said...but I'm glad she's lookin' more cheerful,' _he thought, tearing into his own dinner with a renewed vigor. _'It's not right for Kagome to be so fuckin' depressed.' _

Then he thought about the giant hebi youkai who were attacking the village, and the promise they had made to the villagers that very afternoon. _'If Kagome's with us when the snakes attack...' _InuYasha tried hard to repress the shudder the mental image threatened to send down his spine. Just the _thought _of something happening to Kagome, cat or otherwise, was enough to almost rob the hanyou of his appetite. _'No! I can't risk her getting hurt when she doesn't have any spiritual powers! Also, I may have decent night-vision, but Kagome's a black cat, and those hebi youkai'll only show up at night...no, I can't risk it. She'll have to stay here.' _

Kagome looked over at InuYasha that very moment and emitted a low mew. Absently, the hanyou reached out and rubbed her ears, his mind lost in thought. _'It's hard to leave Kagome behind, though. She's so fucking loyal to me and would just turn around and come right back if I told her to stay here...' _The ghost of a smirk flicked across InuYasha's face for a fraction of a second before vanishing again. _'Heh...'nother fuckin' thing I learned when I was a dog; just how faithful Kagome really is.' _InuYasha shook his head, snorting slightly as he got his mind back on topic._ 'All that shit aside, what am I gonna do to get her to stay __**here**__? I could probably ask Sango to let Kirara stay here to protect Kagome...but Kagome's gotta be here first. What the fuck do I do?'_

Underneath InuYasha's mindlessly scratching claws, Kagome's tiny head seemed to split in two as the cat gave an enormous yawn. _'I'm exhausted...ever since me and InuYasha talked last night, I haven't gotten very many opportunities to sleep...that and I just __**couldn't **__sleep...what with...all that...' _Kagome's thoughts started to trail off as her tiny head dipped down toward her white-flecked chest and her small black fore-paws, her eyelids drifting shut over her tired brown eyes. Then, with a jerk, she started back awake, determined to stay conscious and useful to everybody.

"What's wrong, Kagome-chan?" Sango asked. "Are you tired?"

_"Nooo," _Kagome yawned, blinking once or twice to try and get some vigor back into her drowsy eyes, but to no avail.

_"Should sleep if tired," _Kirara told her, purring as she wrapped both of her tails around herself. _"Not good not sleep."_

Kagome would have argued some more, but just then InuYasha's claws started to make circles on the top of her head, much like her own fingers had done on his on the first night the hanyou had been transformed into a dog; a day that seemed like ages ago now. The effect was exactly the same: Kagome began drowsing, her head drooping down onto her paws as her mind slowly drifted away in a sea of contentment. Her white-patched chest rose and fell in a rythm that slowed steadily as each second passed. In what seemed like no time at all, the small black cat was asleep, head resting on her paws, tail tucked around her legs and face contentedly blank.

_'Guess the Kami decided to go easy on me...for once,' _InuYasha thought sarcastically as he slowly lifted his hand away from the sleeping cat's head. He spent a few seconds looking at her, his eyes grave. _'Sorry, Kagome...I just don't want you to get hurt.'_

InuYasha turned to Miroku and Sango, who were both watching him interestedly. "So, what are we gonna do about those hebi youkai?"

"Well, the headman said that they were coming from the West, right? So maybe we should start searching the Western outskirts of the town," Sango suggested.

"Yes; that, and the sun is beginning to set, so it will be more likely for us to encounter them," Miroku added.

"All right; let's go." InuYasha got to his feet, tucking Tetsusaiga into his obi as he walked toward the door.

"InuYasha-wait!"

InuYasha flicked his ear back in the direction of Sango's cry, not bothering to turn around as he said, "What?"

"What about Kagome-chan? You're not going to leave her here, are you?" Sango asked accusingly.

InuYasha turned back, his golden eyes more solemn and serious than either Miroku or Sango had ever seen before. "It's gonna be night-time soon, plus Kagome doesn't have her powers of purification. From what we heard and saw about the hebi youkai today, those bastards are huge, fast and angry. Kagome'll be safer here, out of the fight."

Sango considered, then grudgingly said, "All right, InuYasha. But I'm leaving Kirara here, just in case a hebi youkai manages to get into the building. That way, she'll have someone to protect her while we're gone."

InuYasha nodded in agreement, his eyes set and determined, the way they always were before a fight.

"What about Shippou?" Miroku asked. The forgotten kitsune was lying on one of the beds the headman had prepared for them, his belly stuffed with food, his head filled with dreams of illusions and trickery. (All directed toward InuYasha from his grins and snickers.)

"Leave him, too," InuYasha said. "We don't need a whiny baby kitsune with us when we go after those hebi youkai."

The two humans looked at each other, an entire conversation passing between them in only a few blinks of an eyelash. "If you think they'll be safer here, InuYasha," Miroku finally stated, "Then it'll be for the best."

"That's what I've been saying this whole time, bouzou," InuYasha growled, turning on his heel and heading for the door. "Now, c'mon!"

* * *

The Western edge of the village was already cast into deep shadow, thanks to the trees that started just a few yards away from the last hut. The dead leaves whispered menacingly underneath their feet, sliding away like living things as the group moved through the dark trees. "This forest feels ominous," Miroku observed, the hand on his Shakujou tensing. "I wonder if there are other youkai beside the hebi youkai living here..."

"Maybe, but we should try to focus on the hebi youkai right now," Sango told him. "After all, we are only human, and we can't go after each and every single youkai in Nippon."

"Too true, my dear Sango." The familiar glint entered the houshi's amethyst eyes when he said that, his cursed hand wandering slowly over, sneaking steadily around the taijiya until-

"HENTAI! GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF ME!" In the blink of an eye, Sango had whipped about, her Hiraikotsu-free hand slapping Miroku's cheek so hard the houshi was nearly jerked off of his feet.

"Will you guys fuckin' _shut up_?" InuYasha, who had been on the ground looking for traces of hebi youkai scent, now looked up, his topaz eyes irritated. "You've been fighting since we fuckin' left the village!"

"Well, maybe all this noise will draw the youkai out," Miroku said, a serene smile on his face as his free hand rubbed the red mark on his cheek, like he had just been kissed rather than slapped.

"Yeah, not to mention every youkai within a few hundred miles of this place," InuYasha muttered as he began searching for the scent of youkai snake again.

"You're one to talk," Sango huffed irritably. "When you and Kagome-chan fight, I'm pretty damn sure people on the continent can hear you rowing!"

"I wasn't talking about me'n'Kagome, now was I?" InuYasha growled, turning back with an expression of almost murderous intent on his face. "I was talking about you and that fuckin' hentai there. You fight like cats and dogs almost _all the fuckin' time!_"

"Well, I belive Kagome calls that a case of 'the pot calling the kettle black,'" Sango quoted, her eyes narrowing.

"Well, you-"

Exactly what Sango was they were destined to not find out. Miroku suddenly leaped in between the two of them, his hands outstretched as he faced the West.

"What the fuck are-" InuYasha began, but Miroku shushed him hurriedly.

"Don't you feel it?" the houshi hissed.

The hanyou and taijiya froze, bodies stiffening as they stretched out their senses. Sure enough, there was a massive amount of youki approaching them from the West, moving steadily toward the village in a gigantic wave, almost like there was a huge surge of water approaching them.

"Youkai!" InuYasha hissed, popping Tetsusaiga out of its sheath as he bared his fangs, ready for whatever came for him.

"So many auras," Miroku murmured, his eyes wide with something like horror. "Unbelievable."

"Well, it's just the three of us here, so we'd better be on our guard!" Sango said, fitting her mask over her face in preparation for the fight.

InuYasha drew his Tetsusaiga, the youkai katana transforming from a rusty blade into a giant fang in the space of a few seconds as he squared his shoulders. Miroku's hands tightened on his staff as his eyes strained to see anything at all beyond the darkness. Sango's free hand went to her katana, just in case her Hiraikotsu proved useless in the dark confines of the forest. They waited like that for several tense minutes, in which the sounds of the forest animals all went silent as if all of their voices had been stolen in exactly the same moment. There was nothing, save for the soft rustle of the trees overhead and the occasional huff of someone's expelled breath. Silence reigned in the forest. Then-

"I hear somethin'," InuYasha hissed, eyes narrowing.

Miroku and Sango both strained their ears, but to no avail. Their hanyou companion's hearing far exceeded their own, and it was pointless to try and hear something before it actually came into their hearing-range.

"What does it sound like?" Sango hissed back.

"Slithering," InuYasha growled. "I think the hebi youkai have finally decided to show their ugly faces."

Before either human could reply, the sound finally reached them. The sound of hundreds, maybe even _thousands _of bodies sliding over the forest floor, winding slowly through the trees and over the various and sundry rotted logs that littered the forest floor. Then they could see movement amongst the trees; gigantic black bodies weaving through tree trunks, red eyes flashing in the occasional patch of moonlight.

"Is it me, or are they heading for us?" Miroku murmured, moving his Shakujou so it covered his chest.

"I don't think it's you," Sango replied uneasily. Meanwhile, the red lights that marked the eyes of the hebi youkai were heading toward them, steadily forming a ring of coiling bodies around them. Long, needle-sharp fangs could be glimpsed here and there as the snakes began to hiss.

_**"Dokuga...Dokuga..."**_The call rose and fell as the hebi youkai fixed the threesome with an unblinking stare. The bodies shifted left and right, left and right, over and over and over and _over _again.

"What the hell are they _doin'?_" InuYasha growled, looking at the hissing hebi youkai with an expression of incredulity on his face.

"I don't know; be prepared for anything," Sango replied fiercely.

There was a ripple of movement near the outer edge of the circle that caught the group's eye. It looked like one snake was moving through the rest, the hebi youkai parting in a huge wave as whatever it was butted its way through. "I think this is their leader," Sango observed.

"Then he's the one we should focus on killing," InuYasha growled back.

The huge snake finally made it to the small clearing where the hebi had surrounded the two humans and the hanyou. He reared up before them, his wide, triangular head easily reaching the topmost branches of the nearest tree, moonlight glinting off his bright green scales. Though his eyes were dulled with age, his body betrayed none of it, looking more youthful and spry than most of the snakes in the group. A crown of whole human skulls decorated his flat head, collaborating with the sudden unfurling of the snake's acidic green hood to create a rather intimidating picture. _**"Who are you and why are you ssstanding in my way?" **_the hebi youkai hissed, his skinny black tongue flicking out from between his jaws as he stared down at them imperiously.

"Are you Dokuga, then?" Miroku asked.

_**"Dokuga I am," **_the snake replied, eyes glimmering dully in the light of the half-moon overhead. The great hebi youkai's head came down a little as he considered the three figures beneath him. _**"You are...houssshi," **_he hissed suddenly, rearing up again as his eyes took on a look of murderous anger. _**"What have you done to Dokukan?"**_

"I do not know a Dokukan," Miroku said.

_**"Liesss! You are the one, you are the ssslayer of my ssson Dokukan! Houssshi, you ssshall pay for daring to ssslay my ssson!" **_All at once, the hebi youkai lunged forth, mouths gaping open as they charged toward InuYasha, Miroku and Sango.

"I am not the one you seek!" Miroku shouted over the chorus of hisses and slithering.

"Forget it, baka," InuYasha growled. "Even a hentai houshi like you should know that most youkai don't listen to 'reasoned arguments.'" The hanyou brandished his katana as he shouted, "The only way to deal with these fuckers is _force!_"

With that, the three comrades broke their small circle and charged toward the oncoming youkai.

_'Bring it on!'_

* * *

Kagome slowly stirred, her eyes fluttering open as she slowly returned to the real world. _'Mmm...how long was I out?' _she wondered sleepily, stretching languidly as she flexed her claws and tail.

Kagome looked about for her friends...and saw no-one. _"Um...hello? Is anyone there?" _she called, forgetting that no-one could understand her (save for any animals in the area) and mewed desperately.

_"Is okay. I here." _Kirara got up from the bed on which she'd been resting and stretched, her two tails waving in the air as she yawned.

_"Where is everyone? Did they go out?" _Kagome asked, cocking her head at Kirara as she chanced another look around the small room.

_"They go to slay youkai. Leave us here," _Kirara replied, scratching herself behind the ear.

_"Wh-WHAT?" _Kagome's shriek woke Shippou up, the little kitsune leaping up from where he had been sleeping and poofing up in alarm. _"They left without us? How could they do that?"_

_"InuYasha not want you hurt. Want you safe. Safe here," _Kirara told her.

Kagome's eyes filled with angry tears as she considered what the nekomata had told her. Her fur stood on end as her reiki snapped through her body like an electric wave. _"That baka hanyou thinks I'm SAFE here? Doesn't he kn_ow by now that I feel safest when I'm with _him? _Oooh, just _wait _until I see you again, InuYasha! You'll be sorry, I swear!" Kagome gritted her teeth, completely unaware of the fact that she was standing on her own two feet, looking down at Kirara and Shippou rather than being eye-to-eye with them. Still ignoring the two youkai and the fact of her return to humanity, Kagome grabbed up her bow and arrows, grinding out, "I'm going after them!"

"Y-you can't, Kagome!" Shippou cried, jumping up and latching onto Kagome's arm like a limpet. "If they left us behind, then whatever they're facing has to be really dangerous! Plus, you don't know when you'll turn back into a cat again!"

Kagome clenched her teeth fiercely as she said, "I don't care. I'm not about to sit here and do nothing when my friends are out fighting for their lives. Could you do that, Shippou-chan? Could you sit here, knowing that you might not see your friends again?"

Shippou looked at her, his emerald eyes wide and his bottom lip trembling slightly. "Th-that's not fair," he complained. "How come you _always _win all the arguments?"

"Kirara, let's go," Kagome said, ignoring Shippou's last question.

Kirara shrugged her furry shoulders and leaped up onto the arm opposite of the one Shippou was perched on. Kagome was just about to head out of the door when she heard voices in the front room.

"Is that another guest?" Shippou asked in a low (for him) whisper.

"I don't know; I can't really recognize the voice from here," Kagome murmured back. Slowly, she edged forth into the hallway, ears straining to hear the conversation going on in front of her.

"I told you, I appreciate the offer, but we already have the services of a houshi, taijiya and hanyou, all of whom have assured me that they will get rid of the hebi youkai."

_'That's the headman, but who is he-' _Kagome's thought was cut off as another voice rose, more angry than the first.

"You would rely on youkai lovers and filthy hanyou, rather than the services of an excellent houshi like myself? You are a fool to think those frauds and scoundrels would do anything for you." Kagome's eyes widened as she slowly backed away from the door, her hand over her mouth to stifle the cry of amazement that was threatening to burst out of her throat. _'That's-that's Tôjirô! But what's __**he **__doing here?'_

"What is it, Kagome?" Shippou asked, leaning in over Kagome's shoulder.

"We have to go; it isn't safe here," Kagome murmured back urgently. When Shippou gave her a questioning look, Kagome simply said, "Tôjirô."

"You mean the houshi who cursed you and InuYasha to be animals?" Shippou asked, his brows knitting together. "What about him?"

"He's _right outside this room,_" Kagome hissed, eyes flicking from the entrance to their room and back again.

Shippou's eyes lit up with understanding. "You think he's here for the hebi youkai?"

"Probably, but that doesn't mean he won't be interested in us," Kagome pointed out. "We should find somewhere else to stay for the night, otherwise he might come in and notice us. But we can't get out any other way."The miko's eyes flicked about despairingly, searching for an out, any out. Anything besides facing Tôjirô again.

"Leave it to me!" Without further ado, Shippou leaped off Kagome's shoulder and darted into the main room.

"Shippou-chan, NO!" Kagome cried, chasing after the kitsune.

Tôjirô was still arguing with the headman when he caught a glimpse of something orange and furry darting out of the hallway. He only just heard the shout of "Kitsune-youjitsu!" and the voice of a woman shouting before the whole room was filled with bright fireworks and thick smoke.

"Damned kitsune!" Tôjirô hissed, rubbing his stinging eyes with one hand as he extended his staff with the other. "You won't get away!" The houshi's trained eyes dissected the smoke, searching for the kitsune's youki. Several seconds passed before he found what he was looking for; a bluish-green scrap of youki surrounding a tiny body. "I have you now! _Purify and transform, evil youkai who dares stand before me!_" Blue lightning coiled around the six-pointed star before it launched out in the direction of the youki. Tôjirô was satisfied to hear a sharp squeal as the kitsune was hit with the spell. A woman cried out in horror as the houshi made his way toward the door.

_'That voice sounds familiar...'_

Kagome had collapsed by the side of the headman's hut, her arms wrapped tightly around the stricken kitsune. "Shippou-chan! _Shippou-chan!_" she cried, shaking the little bundle of orange fur as her fingers felt for a pulse.

It was then that she noticed that the kitsune in her arms had a lot more fur than he usually did. "Oh, no...Shippou-chan," she murmured, bringing the orange ball of fur closer to her chest. Kirara mewed mournfully and nuzzled one black-tipped ear. Kagome was now holding an adolescent fox, his fur a bright orange save for the black tipping his tail and ears. His clever face was blank, his poofy tail motionless. "Shippou-chan," Kagome whispered again. "I'm so sorry, Shippou-chan."

"Don't waste your breath, woman...youkai like him don't need sympathy from you." The doom-laden voice came from behind her. Slowly, like she was in a horror movie, Kagome turned around. Tôjirô was standing right behind her, his scarlet and black robes waving in a light breeze, staff rooted firmly in the ground. The moonlight behind him made his eyes darker and more insane than normal.

"Stay away from me," Kagome warned, hating the fearful quaver in her voice. Kirara hissed on her shoulder, her fur fluffing up as she glared angrily at the houshi. Tôjirô spared the nekomata a glance, then took something from within his robes and flicked it idly at the spitting cat. Whatever it was hit her squarely between the eyes, causing Kirara to spiral off into the night, yowling in pain.

"Stop hurting my friends, you monster!" Kagome cried, clutching Shippou close to her heart as her reiki spiked, nearly forcing the houshi off of his feet.

"Why don't you understand?" Tôjirô sighed, his voice taking on the tone of a disappointed parent. "You are under a spell."

"Damn right I'm under a spell-a spell that _you _put on me!" Kagome cried, her aura spiking again.

Tôjirô looked confused for a split second before his face lit up with understanding. "Of course, you're referring to the transformation spell that I put on you back in the city. Don't worry, I shall lift that one from you as well."

"'As well?'" Kagome frowned, confusion mixing with her anger and fear. "How many spells do you think I'm under?"

"You wouldn't know, but I can see that the hanyou who keeps you captive has placed a spell upon you to make you love him. I shall break the bonds that keep you captive tonight!" Tôjirô declared, lifting his staff so that the moonlight glinted off the six-pointed star.

Understanding suddenly dawned on Kagome. _'He still thinks that InuYasha is evil and that I'm...well, I'm his bitch...except this time he seems to think I'm innocent. I wonder why?'_

Tôjirô saw the look of confusion on Kagome's face. A slow, almost sad smile spread across his face. "I am truly sorry for what happened back in that city. I was ignorant to the truth staring me in the face. While traveling in the forest, I met the real dark miko who had plagued those streets. She told me that you were her reincarnation and only guilty of sharing her face."

Kagome gaped at the houshi, unable to believe her ears. "Y-you met Kikyou?"

"Is that her name?" Tôjirô asked unconcernedly.

"Well, yeah, I-I mean-did...you didn't kill her, did you?"

Tôjirô sighed. "Unfortunately no. Her magics were more powerful than mine, and I couldn't risk losing my strength...not when I still had to track down the bastard hanyou who broke Chikanaka-sensei's dokko."

"Why do you want to kill InuYasha for something so trivial?" Kagome shouted, clutching the unconscious kitsune to her chest as she took a step or two back. "I know it was valuable, but it's still just an object!"

Tôjirô scowled at her. "That dokko was passed down through centuries of houshi in Chikanaka's family. When he was unable to produce a son, he gave it to me, his most beloved disciple. I was deeply honored to receive something so valuable to him. Then that Kami-forsaken hanyou came along and destroyed it without a second thought! That he must pay for, as well as his pitiful excuse of a life that causes others so much pain. Being an animal wasn't enough, so to redeem that lost one's soul, I will have to send him to Hell!"

"You understand _nothing_!" Kagome screamed, her voice tearing through the night like a steely knife. "Sure, there are youkai and hanyou who want nothing more than to kill and devour humans, but it's _wrong _to assume that they're _all _like that! There are some out there who can love and suffer _just like us humans! _InuYasha is no different from us. He's suffered all of his life just because he was _different _from everybody else_, _and it was because of people like _you _that he closed off his heart and tried to make himself uncaring to the world around him!"

"Enough of this," Tôjirô snarled. He swept forward, his robes flowing like wings behind him. In a sudden arc of scarlet, he swept his arms over Kagome. For a few heart-pounding seconds, her eyes were swarmed with red fabric, twisting and undulating like a sea of blood. Then the miko crumbled to the ground, the fox tumbling out of her limp arms as she collapsed in a dead faint. "I wish it didn't have to be this way, miko," Tôjirô murmured as he scooped Kagome up into his arms. "But you give me no choice."

Turning around, the houshi saw a lone horse grazing next to a humble hut. He strode forward quickly, mumbling a few prayers to the Kami as he did so. "Forgive me for stealing this horse, but I have no choice," he mumbled as he undid the ties binding the horse's neck to its post. Scrambling quickly onto his back, the houshi seized the crude leather reins, holding them awkwardly around the miko's unconscious body. With a sharp kick, he got the animal moving swiftly away from the village. _'Run, horse. Leave this village behind you.' _Tôjirô looked up at the moon and stars over his head, his mouth clenched in a fierce scowl. _'We must make it to the Tsukikage Shrine before that damn hanyou can discover where we have gone.'_

The scowl changed into a small, cruel smile. _'If I cannot change you into an animal, then I shall give you the most painful death imaginable, hanyou.'_

_'But first, I shall take away your devoted servant.'_


	26. Race to Tsukikage Shrine

The hebi youkai were like an endless wave; every time one was cut down, another two would take its place. _'The snakes must have been going easy on the village if they are this many in numbers,' _Miroku thought, Shakujou a golden blur over his head as he decapitated several hebi youkai at once. _'Did they really just want to draw out one houshi?'_

"Damn, we're gettin' _nowhere!_" InuYasha shouted, dispatching the Kaze-no-Kizu toward a particularly annoying group of youkai, satisfied when the fading shrieks signified said group's destruction. "How many of these fuckin' things _are _there?"

"More than we could ever count," Sango gritted out, using her Hiraikotsu as a shield while she stabbed viciously with her katana, striking a hebi youkai right in between its livid red eyes.

Dokuga, who had been lurking in the shadows, chose this moment to appear, his dimmed eyes more angry than before. _**"How dare you ssslay my kinsssfolk?" **_he shrieked, lobbing a huge ball of what looked like saliva at them.

"DUCK!" Sango leaped forward, managing to knock Miroku into InuYasha, sending all three of them tumbling to the ground as the ball of poison splattered against the trees behind them. A few seconds later, the trees groaned and collapsed to the ground, their trunks eaten away by the corrosive poison.

"Holy shit," InuYasha cursed, his golden eyes sweeping over the bubbling sludge that had once been several healthy tree trunks. "What _is _that?"

The trio turned back to Dokuga and the thinned-out crowd of snakes surrounding him. They were all turned to him, their faces curious. The rest of the hebi youkai were obviously waiting for Dokuga to give them orders. _**"The poissson of Dokuga isss ssso very potent," **_the green snake hissed. _**"You ssshall sssuccumb to the poissson, and then my ssson Dokukan will be avenged!"**_

"Oh, yeah? Just tr-" A tingle of awareness suddenly shot down the hanyou's spine, making him whirl around and scan the treeline. But there were no snakes behind him; they were all crowded around Dokuga. Yet something was _wrong, _something was _different..._

Something had _happened..._

_**"You dare to turn your back on Dokuga?" **_Dokuga hissed, lobbing another ball of venom at InuYasha's back. He whipped around, swinging Tetsusaiga as he did so. The ball of venom hit the youkai katana and split into two smaller balls before taking down another few trees between them. Tetsusaiga's blade was unmarked, though, as InuYasha swung it over his head to point it at Dokuga.

"Sure I dare," InuYasha taunted, "Cuz I know you're a fuckin' coward who _hides _behind his own clans-folk!"

_'Gotta try to wrap this up quickly,' _he thought, _'Gotta make sure everything's okay back at the village!'_

_**"HOW DARE YOU, FILTHY HALF-BREED!" **_Dokuga launched himself forward, scattering his kin like ninepins as he careened toward InuYasha, mouth gaping open and fangs dripping with poisonous venom. InuYasha squared his shoulders and dug the heels of his feet into the ground, readying himself for the snake's charge. Dokuga's blunt head hit the flat of Tetsusaiga's blade dead on, making the katana jerk about violently in the hanyou's hands. He held on tight, however, and brought the blade swishing upward, narrowly missing Dokuga's head as the snake dodged, the skulls that made up his crown splintering into pieces thanks to the youkai katana.

_**"That toy katana isss nothing compared to MY power," **_Dokuga jeered.

"Tetsusaiga, a mere _toy_?" InuYasha growled. "Well, I was gonna play _nice _and give ya a chance, but I think I've fuckin' changed my mind!" Tetsusaiga's blade glowed brightly for a few seconds before transforming into what looked like a multi-faceted diamond. InuYasha glared at Dokuga, daring him to come forward.

_**"Jussst becaussse your blade isss prettier doesssn't mean I'll hold back!" **_Dokuga howled, charging forward again. InuYasha smirked at him.

"This blade," he said, raising Tetsusaiga over his head, "is _not _about looks! Koungousouha!" As the battle cry left his lips, InuYasha brought the Tetsusaiga down hard. The diamond spears tore through the night, ripping apart the snakes sitting either side of Dokuga. As for Dokuga himself, three glittering spears were driven into his chest. The giant snake keeled over and lay motionless on the ground, blood bubbling around the spears in his chest. The hebi youkai that remained all decided that they would rather camp out back at the mine than face the three blood-stained, grim-faced warriors again. So they turned tail and slithered away, hissing fearfully as they retreated.

"We should go after them," Sango said.

"Why should we do that?" Miroku asked. "It was Dokuga's anger at losing his son that drove the hebi youkai to attack. Now that he's dead, the tribe have lost their leader, and with him their fighting spirit."

"Yeah, whatever," InuYasha said distractedly. "Let's get back to the village. I wanna check on Kagome." Miroku and Sango looked at each other and rolled their eyes good-naturedly. No matter how much InuYasha denied it, they knew that he loved their miko friend, and would always worry about her in the midst of battle, no matter where or when she was.

* * *

When the threesome arrived back at the village, the headman rushed over to them, his face drawn and worried. "Are you three all right?" he asked urgently.

"We're fine. Also, we have dealt with your hebi youkai problem," Miroku said, putting on his best 'give me all your valuables' face.

"Good. I was afraid that houshi had gone to where you were and complicated things for you," the headman sighed.

"Houshi? What houshi?" Sango asked, brow furrowing as she slanted a glance at Miroku.

"He did not tell me his name. He wore robes of brilliant red and deep black, his staff was adorned with a six-pointed star and he wore an aged sugegasa on his head-wait, where are you going?" the headman cried. InuYasha ignored him, tearing into the headman's hut with an almost despairing look on his face. _'Tôjirô! That was Tôjirô! Dammit, he must've been following us and I didn't even notice! Kagome,' _he thought urgently, _'Please be all right, Kagome!' _With increasing impatience, InuYasha punched the reed mat hanging in the entrance, darting frantically into the main room of the headman's house.

As soon as he entered, the hanyou's nose was overwhelmed by the smell of gunpowder that oozed from every inch of the room. It smelled like a smoke-bomb, or maybe fireworks; both of which were common kitsune-youjitsu tricks that Shippou used, especially when he needed to make a quick getaway. Underneath the gunpowder scent, InuYasha could smell Shippou's scent, though it vanished the moment it reached the door.

What really made him freeze up was the fact that he could smell _Kagome. _Not the cat-Kagome, but the _true _Kagome, that was, Kagome in her human form. Her sweet scent was almost like a drug to the deprived hanyou, and if it hadn't been for the tang of fear that was woven into it, he probably would have spent several minutes just sitting there, letting the faint wafts of scent drift through his head. (As it was, he had no time for something like that, regardless of the fear-stench.)

_'Kagome transformed back into a human...but she was so afraid...' _InuYasha sniffed more, trying to find another scent amidst the gunpowder smell, eyebrow furrowing in concentration. There was something familiar, something he couldn't quite put his finger (or rather, nose) on. His hackles raised as his nose finally nailed down a smell he had committed to memory after the events in the city.

It was Tôjirô's scent, and it was positively drenched in fury.

_'Dammit! He WAS here! Fuck, fuck, fuck! Kagome, I hope you're still here, or I swear right now that I will not rest until I fuckin' GUT that damn houshi!' _InuYasha's claws dug into the wood of the floor as a deep snarl rose up in his throat.

"InuYasha!" Sango's cry broke through the hanyou's vengeful thoughts, causing him to jump up and tear out of the hut, hoping against hope that Sango had found Kagome, and that she was safe and sound.

When he got there, InuYasha saw Sango gently cradling Kirara in her arms, her thumb carefully circling a livid burn-mark in the center of the nekomata's forehead. Miroku was standing next to her, his hand on her shoulder, Shakujou cradled in his shoulder since he, too, was holding something in his arms. Without looking up, Miroku addressed InuYasha. "Sango and I think Tôjirô has taken Kagome-sama away from this place while we were fighting the hebi youkai clan. Also, he's seriously injured Kirara and cursed Shippou." InuYasha was about to ask what Miroku meant when he said 'cursed,' but then he saw the small fox in Miroku's 'free' hand. It was stirring slightly, but it was clearly unconscious.

"Damn that houshi to Hell!" InuYasha swore, his fist flying into the nearest hard object-which happened to be the wall of the headman's hut. "I fuckin' _hate _how he thinks he can just jerk us around like this! I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS BULLSHIT!" he howled, making Miroku and Sango jerk back in alarm.

"InuYasha," Sango tried to soothe, "We need to come up with a plan. Tôjirô is a crafty houshi after all, and he's-"

"I don't _care _about any of that! Kagome's in that youkai-hater's clutches, baka! Our first priority is to _get her back. _I am _NOT _about to fuckin' lose her again!" InuYasha snarled, his fist balling up so tightly that his claws nearly punctured his palm.

"InuYasha, my friend, I know you're upset," Miroku said reasonably, shifting Shippou to the crook of his elbow so he could hold Shakujou in his hand, "but we don't even know where Tôjirô has gone."

"He couldn't have gotten very far," InuYasha snapped back. "He's just a fuckin' human, an' you humans ain't exactly the fastest animals in Nippon."

"No, but if he had a horse, he could get pretty far," Sango shot back.

"What makes you think he had a horse?" InuYasha said derisively.

Sango pointed over to one of the huts directly across from the headman's hut. There was a wooden post directly outside of it; much like the kind that InuYasha had been tethered to back in the city. "I'm positive that there was a horse there when we left to go into the forest," the taijiya stated. "And Tôjirô is a houshi who believes he's on a holy quest to destroy all youkai. He would have seen it as a necessity, rather than a crime...I think."

"That is a likely possibility," Miroku agreed. "This _is_ the man who was eager to destroy a young woman just because he thought she was a dark miko. Horse theft probably seemed like a little thing to him."

"Damn," InuYasha growled, pacing about like a caged wolf. "Then where the hell would he have gone?"

"Well," Miroku said thoughtfully, looking up at the moon, "If you were Tôjirô, and you had just taken your sworn enemy's treasured woman," here Miroku ignored InuYasha's sputter of indignation and his bright red face and went on with, "not to mention the various and sundry youkai that wander Nippon, where would you go?"

A few minutes of silence passed, in which InuYasha became more restless as the other two showed no sign of ideas or battle-plans.

"...I would go to a place where I felt safe," Sango finally whispered, her eyes distant. "I would go to a place where I thought no evil could reach me, a place I called home."

Only a few seconds passed before Miroku and Sango both said "Tsukikage Shrine" in perfect unison.

"But that place is _miles _from here!" InuYasha snapped, ears flattened against his head. The humans could tell that InuYasha was quickly running out of patience (if, indeed, he'd had any patience in the first place) and that they needed to start moving quickly if they were to spare themselves from InuYasha's impatient wrath.

"It probably wouldn't seem so long on horseback," Sango pointed out. "If he travels nonstop, I would give him at least half a day."

InuYasha considered this. "If we set out now," he said slowly, "then we'd get there _first._"

"True, but you forget one thing, InuYasha," Miroku said sadly.

"What the fuck is that?" InuYasha hissed, eyes flashing with anger.

"We don't know which way the Tsukikage Shrine is from here," Miroku pointed out. "We only know where it is in relationship to that one village, and if we went there now, it could be a week before we find Kagome-sama, and by then it would be far too late to help her."

InuYasha looked shock for the smallest space of a few seconds; shock that quickly translated into anger. Froth forming around the edges of his mouth, ears flattened against his head and eyes opened to their widest, the hanyou lifted his head and screamed his frustration to the sky. No words, just the long scream of a wounded animal, a yowl that echoed off the surrounding forest and reverberated in the village. InuYasha needed no words to convey just how upset he was; upset that Tôjirô had stolen Kagome, upset that Shippou had been turned into a fox, upset that Kirara had been wounded, but most of all, he was upset that he had once again failed to protect Kagome. Miroku and Sango both looked stunned beyond belief as a few rivulets of blood started streaming from InuYasha's clenched fists, courtesy of the sharp claws tipping each of his fingers.

A few seconds of stunned silence passed, in which the humans stared at the hanyou's tense back. Then an idea came to the youkai taijiya. "Um...InuYasha?" Sango asked.

"What?" InuYasha replied irritably, turning around to face Sango. His eyes were both angry and depressed, his voice slightly hoarse from his unexpected screech.

"Do you think you would be able to track the scent of the horse that was tied up at that post?" the taijiya asked.

"Yeah; so what?"

"Then...isn't that a way to find both Tôjirô and the Tsukikage Shrine?"

For a few seconds, the men were both mute, their bodies rigid with stunned disbelief. Then, InuYasha turned to stare accusingly at Miroku.

"...Didn't think of that," Miroku said weakly. In a flash, InuYasha had darted forward and punched Miroku's head as hard as he could without killing the houshi. The end result was Miroku sitting on his knees, tears in his eyes as he clutched his throbbing head. "That...was not...necessary," Miroku groaned.

"Shut the fuck up," InuYasha growled back. Before the houshi or taijiya could come up with a retort, the hanyou had already darted over to where the horse was tied up and had gotten on his hands and knees, sniffing the ground with a fierce determination.

Meanwhile, the small fox in Miroku's arm gave a low groan and stirred, his eyes moving restlessly underneath his eyelids. "Shippou?" Sango said, moving and taking the fox out of the still-stricken Miroku's arms. "Are you okay?" The fox gave a low moan and opened its eyes, revealing brilliant emerald irises. In no time at all, the fox had started yapping excitedly, gesturing with its snout and paws toward a spot on the ground where the grass was burned slightly. "Yes, we know Tôjirô took Kagome away, Shippou. We're going to go after him," Sango reassured. The fox looked relieved, then he seemed to notice his new body. He started yipping again, although this time he sounded upset. "I'm sorry, Shippou," Sango murmured. "We couldn't get here in time to help you."

Even as the words came out of her mouth, Kirara gave a low, pained mew and turned in Sango's arms, her eyes fixing her with a pained stare. "Kirara!" Sango cried, holding the nekomata close to her chest. "Kirara, I thought you were dead!" The nekomata mewed again, although this time she sounded angry. She squirmed out of Sango's arms and became a fireball. Then, Kirara roared to the sky as she took on her battle-form, the burn-mark on her forehead vanishing as her muzzle twisted into a snarl. Sango considered for a few seconds, then she leaped onto Kirara's back, placing Shippou on her head as she reached down and dragged the still-groaning houshi into the place behind her. "I'm sorry to push you, Kirara," she told the nekomata, "but we need to find Kagome-chan." Kirara nodded resolutely.

InuYasha, meanwhile, was almost at the outskirts of the village, moving more swiftly as his nose became more used to the scent of the horse Tôjirô had stolen and rode out of the village. "C'mon, you slow bakas!" he shouted behind him as he got ready to run. "We've got a houshi to beat up!"

"Just go; we'll be right behind you!" Sango shouted back. InuYasha gave one sharp nod, then he was off, tearing across the landscape like an arrow that had been released from a bow, silver mane glimmering in the moonlight as it whipped out behind him, a faint dust trail rising up from his pounding feet. Sango gritted her teeth as Kirara soared through the air. She hoped that the wounds they'd gotten during the fight with the hebi youkai wouldn't impede their encounter with Tôjirô. Not only that, but InuYasha was _still _recovering from his fight with Kouga, and the battle with the hebi youkai hadn't exactly helped his wounds much. (Though the thought of Kagome in danger seemed to be working wonders for him.)

_'I hope that everything will turn out all right,' _Sango prayed fervently. _'Though that's rarely what we get in the end.'_

* * *

Far behind the racing group, the corpses of the hebi youkai lay in the venom-scarred battle-field, their faces fixed in gruesome death grimaces as the stink of hebi youkai blood brought in all sorts of flesh-eating creatures.

Then a pile of bodies began to shift about, wriggling and jostling like there was something trapped beneath all of them. Then, one body tumbled to the ground, followed by another, and another, and yet another. Like some mythical sea-beast, Dokuga slowly emerged from the mass of corpses, his dim red eyes maddened with pain, blood frothing around his fangs as he pulled himself out from the bodies of his dead kinsfolk. _**"Human foolsss," **_he hissed, wrenching himself painfully from the pile and rearing as far as he could, the spears in his chest glittering in the moonlight as he displayed his green hood to the surrounding woods. _**"Did you really think that Dokuga would die ssso eassily? I will not ressst until I get my vengeance!"**_


	27. Battle at the Shrine

**note from baneofshadow: Some of you (in fact, probably a lot of you) are most likely wondering, "Where the heck is Naraku? Isn't he the main bad dude in this series?" Weeeell, I thought the inu-guys could use a break from Naraku for once. So, Naraku's just squatting under whatever rock he chose to hide under while everyone's having fun with Tôjirô and his animal spells.**

**Seriously, I can't think of what Naraku would **_**want**_** with Tôjirô, even if he does have shikon-no-kakera. =\**

* * *

InuYasha ran as fast as he could, ignoring the slight protest of his hurt ankle as he soared over the landscape in a parody of flight. His mind was a boiling pit of revenge and self-hatred; he was barely focusing on the scent trail in front of him or on his pounding legs. _'Dammit, leaving Kagome behind was supposed to __**protect **__her, not put her at risk!' _he growled to himself, leaping over a rock that was standing in the way of his progress toward the place where he hoped the Tsukikage Shrine was. _'Damn...she would have been safer with me after all...at least the hebi-youkai were pretty easy to defeat. Fuck, I probably could have just slipped her inside my haori, or something. Fuckin' hell, why didn't I think of this earlier?'_

Even though she was flying several yards behind InuYasha, it was easy for Sango to see the tension in her hanyou comrade's back as he ran harder and faster, pushing himself more and more as the fruitless minutes of pursuit dragged on. The taijiya would have shouted some encouragement to the hanyou, but she was positive that the hanyou wouldn't appreciate it at all.

At least Miroku was showing signs of improvement, Sango told herself. An hour or two after they'd started running, he'd stopped his groaning and looked a little more lively than he had when InuYasha had punched him. The houshi didn't really do much, which was actually more of a blessing; Sango didn't really feel like staving off the houshi's 'cursed' hands. Also, Shippou was starting to look a little less depressed about being a fox and failing to save Kagome. The taijiya knew that the little kitsune loved Kagome like a second mother, and the thought of failing her was almost as painful to him as it was to InuYasha. After some coaxing and soothing, it looked like Shippou was starting to feel a bit better, although Sango was sure that he wouldn't feel one hundred percent better until Kagome was back with them and fixing them all with her brilliant smile.

If only coaxing could work half as well on InuYasha. However, there was only one voice in the entire world that could soothe InuYasha's scarred soul, and that was the voice of the kidnapped young miko. Simply speaking, the only thing that would have held InuYasha back was in Tôjirô's grasp, and that thought made InuYasha PISSED.

_'Let's just hope we can get there before Tôjirô does anything awful to Kagome-chan, otherwise there is nothing on this world that will be able to stop InuYasha,' _she thought grimly.

* * *

Tôjirô dismounted from the panting and trembling horse. After a few hours of hard riding, he had finally arrived at the Tsukikage Shrine. The horse was exhausted and would need up to a full day's rest to recover from the journey. _'A small price to pay for the destruction of the hanyou who has destroyed my life so completely,' _Tôjirô thought, the ghost of a satisfied smirk flitting across his face.

Carefully, he lifted the miko down from the horse's back. When she had started to regain her consciousness, Tôjirô had bound her hands and gagged her so that she wouldn't attract any attention by screaming or get away by throwing herself off the horse. She now sat, motionless as a stone statue, though her eyes burned with brown fire, staring indignantly at the houshi who had kidnapped her.

"We have arrived, and now no-one can stop me," Tôjirô informed he as he lifted her in his arms. "As soon as we pass into the boundaries of Tsukikage Shrine, I will recite the spell that raises the barrier on this place. It will make it impenetrable to your youkai friends. Then you shall be freed from their control forever."

The girl glared at him wordlessly, her eyes blazing with fury. _'A natural part of the spell,' _he thought as he mounted the steps of his beloved Tsukikage Shrine. _'She will support her friends until she is freed...sad, really. She is more loyal to deceitful youkai than to her own human kin.'_

Tôjirô finally reached the courtyard of the Tsukikage Shrine, his gray eyes sweeping contentedly over the place that he had called home for the past forty years. Then he started toward the main building.

The elder was out once again, sweeping needles like he always was. Sensing something close to him, the elder houshi looked up, searching with blind eyes. "Tôjirô? Is that you?" he asked, the broom stilling on the ground.

"Yes, elder," Tôjirô replied. "I have with me a maid who has been wronged by youkai. I will attempt to lift the spell, but in the meantime, I must use this place as a sanctuary from youkai."

The elder took this all in, then said, "If you must, Tôjirô. But know that my powers have waned with my great years, and I will probably be unable to ward off any youkai who come calling."

"Not to worry, elder," Tôjirô said softly. "I shall use my own powers to protect the Tsukikage Shrine. Now, I think you should find a safe place to hide somewhere. If the youkai manage to break through my barrier, it would be best if you were out of the line of fire."

The houshi stared serenely at Tôjirô for a few seconds, then said, "If that is what you wish, Tôjirô."

Kagome chose this moment to wriggle in Tôjirô's arms and emitted a "MMmmph!" However, the houshi's ears were far too old to hear the miko's muffled cry, and his blindness prevented him from seeing her, not that he would have recognized her anyway. The houshi bowed creakily, still not seeing the frantic girl in Tôjirô's arms, and began walking around the back of the shrine, presumably to some sort of a storage building.

As soon as the elder was out of sight, Tôjirô mounted the stairs and used one hand to open the door to the shrine. It was dark inside of the Tsukikage Shrine, much like the inside of the cave where Kouga had attempted to rape Kagome. There were effigies of various animals, presumably representing different forms of Kami. Taking center stage in the main building was a sokushin-butsu; a dried-up old mummy wearing robes similar to Tôjirô's, although the mummy's looked more like rotted rags than cloth. His mouth was drawn in an eerie grin, his eyes reduced to gaping black holes. Kagome had heard Miroku and Sango describe what the venerable Hakushin had looked like, but she had never seen a sokushin-butsu until this day. _'Uuurgh,' _she thought, shivering slightly. _'That's __**creepy**__...'_

"Chikanaka-sensei," Tôjirô murmured, his voice respectful. He strode forwards and threw Kagome to the ground as he knelt before the mummy. "I am sorry to have disturbed your peaceful sleep, but I must use this sacred place to free a woman who has been wronged."

"Igh mnph NPRH bfn frmghed!" Kagome shouted, or, at least, tried to shout.

Tôjirô turned back toward Kagome, his eyes like steel. "Keep your voice down, little fool. This is the honorable Chikanaka-sensei. He was my tutor, father, friend, brother and fellow houshi while he lived. You will show him proper respect."

Tôjirô turned back to Chikanaka's corpse and lifted one hand out in prayer. "Forgive me, but I must take leave of you so I can lift the barrier that will protect this shrine." The houshi stood up, ignoring Kagome as he made his way back to the entrance of the shrine. He pushed open the doors and stared out into the bright sunlight.

_'I have no idea how long it will take that hanyou to find me, but when he does, there will be trouble. I must raise a barrier so that this shrine, along with Chikanaka-sensei's remains and the elder, will be protected.' _Tôjirô stretched out his arms, holding the staff with both hands as the six-pointed star began to shine with power.

"_Protect and enshield this holy ground I call home!_" Tôjirô intoned. The light surrounding the star transformed into lightning, crackling and snapping as it twisted around the star, growing in quantity until it looked like Tôjirô was surrounded by a mini-thunderstorm. Then the lightning broke free of the staff and launched itself into the sky like a true thunderbolt that was reversing itself, the light extending high into the air before exploding. A blue wave was generated from the place where the bolt had shattered, descending in a shimmering half-sphere on the Tsukikage Shrine. In mere moments a slightly pulsating blue barrier was encasing the entire building.

_'That should keep those youkai out,' _Tôjirô thought triumphantly as he relaxed his position and headed back toward the main building of the Tsukikage Shrine. _'Now, to business!'_

Tôjirô slammed open the doors of the shrine, shocking Kagome, who had been trying to wriggle free of her bonds while Tôjirô was busy putting the barrier into place. Tôjirô quickly shut the doors behind him, extinguishing the light from the room. The darkness was only temporary, for Tôjirô soon lit a the candles surrounding the stone figures and the body of Chikanaka, casting half of the room into flickering shadow. Moving swiftly, the houshi strode forth and undid the bonds that held Kagome captive. "I shall free you from your spells now," he told her.

Kagome rubbed her wrists resentfully, glaring at the houshi with what looked like hatred in her eyes. "A houshi who's a good friend of mine told me that the effort involved in lifting my spells would kill both me and you," she stated.

Tôjirô snorted. "You would take the words of a lying, dishonest youkai lover over my own skills? Believe me, it will be _easy _for me to lift my own spells, seeing as two of them aren't even meant for you. How you got two of my fiercest spells on you I have no idea, but it will be easy for me to lift them from you."

Kagome slanted him a sideways look, her eyes suspicious and wary. "If that's all, then there's no need for all this security."

"You think that's _all?_" Tôjirô growled, taking a menacing step forward. "You think I would just free you and send you trotting back to that hanyou? Think again, baka! I intend to free you from the spell that binds you to that damned hanyou and break your forced faith in him. That will be the first step in my revenge toward you little hanyou friend."

Kagome stared at him, an infuriated sort of incredulity clearly written on her face. "Are you out of your mind?" she cried. "I've told you again and again, _it isn't like that! _My relationship with InuYasha isn't based off lies and spells! What we have is no different that what any other couple has, what _any_ human could ever have. I love him, not because he forced me to love him, but because my heart belongs to him and to him alone."

All through Kagome's speech, Tôjirô was watching her with a fascinated sort of hatred. "Amazing," he murmured when she had stopped to take a breath. "That spell must truly run deep for you to be saying things like that."

Kagome goggled at him. "You _still _don't believe me?"

Tôjirô shrugged. "Why should I? I can't take the word of a cursed miko seriously, so I don't. Do not worry, though, you shall soon stop fawning over that hanyou." The houshi lifted his hand up, brandishing the staff with his other hand as his robes began swirling around him. "I shall lift that hanyou's evil spell from you, fair maiden!"

"No, don't!" Kagome cried, but it was too late. The blue light had already started to form around the six-pointed star, and Tôjirô's face was resolute. He lifted the staff up into the air and brought it down with a sharp crack.

Kagome shrieked in pain as a long cut opened up on her upper arm. Her hand flashed up to the wound and came away stained a deep scarlet. _'This wound...it's the one Kohaku-kun gave me in the forest!' _Kagome realized as her fingers closed over the cut again. _'But...why?'_

Tôjirô was staring at Kagome with an expression of deep shook on his face. "A wound? But all I did was say to 'break the bonds that hold this innocent maid captive.' Surely I didn't mess up the incantation."

"Oh, Kami," Kagome whispered breathily. Tôjirô was far too blind to see it, but InuYasha truly did care for Kagome as she cared for him. Asking the spell to break the bonds between them was about the same as trying to bend an iron bar with a human's measly strength. Under the best of circumstances, it was impossible. Therefore, when the spell had attempted to break those bonds, it had rebounded and torn at Kagome's flesh instead.

Unfortunately for the miko, the houshi casting the spells just didn't understand why it hadn't worked and was ready to try again. "Hmm...let's see if _this _will work!" Tôjirô brought his staff down again, the light flashing once more as the cry of a spell left his lips.

The first wound Kagome had ever received in the Sengoku jidai chose that moment to open: the wound that marked the spot where Centipede Woman had torn out the Shikon-no-Tama from Kagome's belly. Fortunately, this wound wasn't as deep as it looked, though it also bled profusely. _'Crap...I'm in real trouble if Tôjirô keeps doing this,'_ Kagome thought, panting now as she wrapped her arms protectively around herself.

"Damn it all to Hell," Tôjirô panted as he collapsed on the ground. His face was drawn with the effort of casting two fruitless spells, as well as the effort it had taken him to cast the barrier-spell. "Why is it not working?"

Then Tôjirô shook his head and rose back onto his feet, his teeth gritted with the effort it took to push himself back up. "No matter...I will make it work!"

_'Kami...not again,' _Kagome thought as she watched Tôjirô gather the holy energy around himself again. _'InuYasha...please find me quickly!'_

* * *

InuYasha had never run for so long in his entire life. But even though his legs felt like they were on fire, even though his chest heaved with exertion and his wounds trailed drops of blood behind him and froth formed at his lips, he still pushed himself harder and faster. _'I have to get to her,' _he repeated to himself, _'I have to get to Kagome before Tôjirô does anything to her!'_

Not too long ago, the group had passed into a forest that was much like the one that housed the Tsukikage Shrine. Entering this forest had driven InuYasha's wearied spirits up a considerable amount, but it looked like there was a lot of forest in between him and Kagome, and InuYasha knew he was running out of time.

Behind him, he sensed that Kirara was starting to get tired from the nonstop flying. She was falling further and further behind, her pink tongue flopping out of her mouth as she dropped lower and lower. Sango was trying to coax her back into the air while stifling a yawn at the same time. She and Miroku had taken turns napping on the long road to Tsukikage Shrine, but it hadn't been nearly enough rest for the two wounded and exhausted humans. As for Shippou, he was looking fine thanks to the fact that he hadn't fought the hebi youkai and had gotten a lot of rest because of Tôjirô's spell. Even though the majority of the group was faring poorly, they still pushed themselves to their utmost, willing to sacrifice whatever scraps of energy they had left to save their friend.

_'My own welfare doesn't matter,' _InuYasha told himself grimly as he pushed himself onward. _'Finding and saving Kagome takes top priority! I'll keep running unt-' _InuYasha's non-stop running was brought to an abrupt end when he slammed into something that felt like electrified rubber. He was launched backwards into a tree, cursing up a storm as his clawed hands rubbed the steaming sections of his haori.

"InuYasha! Are you all right?" Sango called urgently as Kirara descended from on high. As soon as the nekomata landed, she transformed back into her tiny self and curled up into a tight ball, out for the count. Miroku picked her up and held her while Sango went to help InuYasha off the ground.

"I'm fine, leggo of me," InuYasha grumbled. "Feels like I hit a barrier, though."

Miroku moved forward, his amethyst eyes scanning the area InuYasha had hit with an expert eye. "Hmm...yes, there is a holy barrier here. I suspect that Tôjirô raised it to protect the Tsukikage Shrine while does...well, whatever he does."

InuYasha shoved the two humans aside, drawing Tetsusaiga with a fluid motion as he growled, "A barrier, huh? Then my Tetsusaiga should be able to tear it apart no problem!" The katana's blade glowed for a few seconds before it turned as red as blood. InuYasha leaped up, swinging the Red Tetsusaiga as hard as he could, aiming for the shining blue wall in front of him. The blade hit the barrier and was stopped in mid-swing. For a few heart-pounding seconds it looked like it would be repelled and possibly purified. Purple lightning bolts hissed and sparked everywhere as the red blade and the blue barrier battled for dominance. Then the barrier exploded into a blue mist, revealing the entrance to the Tsukikage Shrine.

InuYasha wasted no time in ascending the stairs of the shrine as he made a beeline for the courtyard, Tetsusaiga clenched tightly in one hand as he soared up the stairs, twelve at a time. Tôjirô had felt the barrier dissolve and was standing in the doorway to the main shrine building when InuYasha cleared the last step and landed in the courtyard. The houshi's jaw was practically at his feet as he took in the battle-scarred form of his enemy. "I-Impossible!" he gasped. "How could a mere hanyou break _my _barrier?"

InuYasha just shoved past the houshi with brutish force, sending Tôjirô tumbling onto the hard flagstones of Tsukikage Shrine's courtyard with a grunt of pain. Ignoring the houshi behind him, InuYasha headed for the main shrine building, his mind a whirlwind of anger and worry. The stench of Kagome's blood assaulted InuYasha's nose as he pushed the doors aside. The hanyou's mouth twisted into an angry snarl as he thought about the awful things that Tôjirô had possibly been doing to Kagome to make her bleed.

Then he thought about the possibility that Kagome had died from whatever Tôjirô had done to her. _'No-that can't be! It's __**me **__he hates, not her! Kagome is FINE! She has to be fine...'_

"Kagome!" InuYasha called.

"InuYasha?"

A dark figure that had been lying underneath one of the statues in the shrine sat up, and InuYasha could see by the light of the two candles that had remained alight after InuYasha had opened the door that it was Kagome. She looked shaky and a little bloody, but other than that she looked okay.

"InuYasha..." Kagome whispered, standing up slowly. One hand was clamping a wound on her arm shut, while the wounded arm was pressed tightly against her belly to prevent another wound from bleeding. "You came for me, InuYasha."

InuYasha didn't respond. Back in the headman's hut, he thought he had smelled Kagome's true scent; the wonderful scent of her pure human self. While he had been running, he had thought back on that event and wondered if his fatigued mind had been playing tricks on him. Yet the woman standing in front of him could never be called a mere trick. She was bleeding and tremulous, but undeniably human.

"Kagome!" Without warning, the hanyou darted forward and wrapped his miko in a massive hug the likes of which he hadn't been able to give her since the scene in the cave that felt like it had happened so many years ago. One clawed hand tangled itself in her raven-black tresses while the other wrapped about her waist and drew her closer to his body, regardless of the wound in her stomach. Kagome was a little startled by InuYasha's open display of affection, but for once she did not push him away. She lifted one bloodied hand and placed it delicately on his waist, her face pressed into his scarlet-stained chest as her eyes closed in contentment.

_'Yes...finally,' _they thought in perfect unison. _'We can finally hold each other in our true forms, as we should be.'_

Even though they still had to deal with Tôjirô, even though their world still contained an undead miko, a dark hanyou and a corrupt jewel, this one moment, in the main room of the Tsukikage Shrine, was nothing more or less than absolutely perfect. The hanyou and miko who had traveled together and loved each other from afar had finally realized their feelings and managed to shake off the spells that had kept them apart and had come together at long last.

The entwined couple didn't see it, but for a few seconds, it looked as if the dried corpse of Tôjirô's master Chikanaka had managed a true smile as it watched the reunion of hanyou and miko.

Kagome lifted her head to look at InuYasha. The hanyou's face was positively covered in dried blood. Purple circles marred the area underneath his golden eyes, although they seemed to show no trace of fatigue. "You look so tired," she murmured, lifting her hand from his waist and placing it on his cheek. "Please tell me you didn't push yourself too hard."

InuYasha managed a low chuckle as he pulled her in closer. "S'pose I did, but it was worth it."

A loud explosion interrupted the blissful peace that had settled over the couple.

"What the fuck was that?" InuYasha swore, turning back toward the shrine's exit. Kagome followed after him, her face drawn with worry.

* * *

Tôjirô, as soon as he had risen from the stone floor of the shrine's courtyard, had turned on the nearest 'enemy' he could see, which, in this case, had been Miroku and Sango. Since Tôjirô was human, the houshi and taijiya couldn't use their full powers on him, plus, they still had fox-form Shippou and the unconscious Kirara to worry about. These factors all collaborated against them, practically making it a one-sided fight, since Tôjirô had no qualms about unleashing his full power on the tired and wounded duo.

Miroku did his best to parry a flurry of blue lightning bolts with Shakujou while also juggling Kirara's limp form, but his fatigue and the punch he had received to the head were beginning to take their toll on the houshi once more. His blows were becoming less accurate, his blocks less effective and his movements more clumsy. Sango was a little less wounded than Miroku, but she fared little better since her Hiraikotsu did little against a human opponent. (As for Shippou, he had bailed as soon as the houshi had turned on him with fire in his gray eyes and lightning in his hands).

Then, in a blindingly fast move, Tôjirô swept the end of his staff up in a powerful jerk. Miroku, too tired to judge the attack accurately, suffered a stinging blow to his hands as Shakujou was knocked away from him, the staff jangling as it toppled to the ground some distance from where he was standing. _'Can't...can't do it,' _the houshi thought, even as he collapsed to the ground, panting hard and fast, Kirara resting in his lap. _'Can't...'_

"Houshi-sama!" Sango cried, rushing forward as she watched Tôjirô lifting his staff up, slowly, inevitably.

"As a houshi, you should have known better than to consort with youkai," Tôjirô told Miroku, even as his staff reached its peak, the lightning lancing menacingly off each point of the six-pointed star on its tip. "If you had relied on what your training had told you, then I wouldn't have to punish you like this."

"MIROKU!" Sango yelled, leaping forward as best she could, Hiraikotsu clenched tightly in her hand. _'No-I won't make it!' _she lamented, even as she pushed herself as hard as she could.

"Fuckin' houshi!"

A clawed fist flew seemingly out of nowhere, hitting Tôjirô in the cheek as hard as he possibly could. The houshi was sent spinning to the ground as InuYasha stood where Tôjirô had been standing, Kagome now resting safely on his back.

Miroku smiled serenely up at them, his eyes sparkling through his exhaustion. "I...am glad that you...have retrieved Kagome...InuYasha." After the last word left his mouth, what remained of the houshi's strength left him. Miroku slumped to the stones of the courtyard, unconscious.

"Sango-chan, take care of Miroku-sama, okay?" Kagome asked softly as she descended from InuYasha's back. Sango nodded as she hurried over to Miroku's side. InuYasha ignored all of this as he glared daggers at Tôjirô, who was rising from the place where he had fallen, one hand rubbing the bright red mark on his cheek.

"Hanyou," he growled, his gray eyes flashing as he used his staff to push himself off the ground. "You will _regret _standing up to me again. This time, I'll purify you past the point of recognition!"

InuYasha growled, brandishing the Tetsusaiga as he snarled, "Just try it, I'm ready for you, bastard."

Tôjirô snorted. Then his eyes flicked to Kagome, who was standing directly behind InuYasha, glaring at the houshi with a similar expression of dislike on her face. "Why do you stand with him? Have I not freed you from his spell?" Tôjirô's face went bright red as he spat, "How can you stand at that filthy hanyou's side?"

Kagome straightened up, her hand going to InuYasha's arm as she stared resolutely at Tôjirô. "You see things in black and white, Tôjirô, but the world isn't like that. Not all youkai are monsters, and not all humans are saints. You can't see the gray areas, Tôjirô, and trust me, that's where most of the world resides." Kagome's brown eyes were resolute as she stared determinedly into Tôjirô's gray ones. "InuYasha didn't cast a spell on me. There's no subterfuge or servitude between us. I love InuYasha because _he is InuYasha_. No more, and no less. His being a hanyou doesn't change the fact that I love him. In fact, I love him all the more for it." By the end of Kagome's speech, there was a growl much like a purr vibrating in InuYasha's throat, and the hanyou had to try very hard not to look pleased as he glowered at Tôjirô.

The houshi looked stoic throughout the whole exchange, and when Kagome had finally finished, he let out a great bark of laughter. "How completely and utterly _ridiculous!_ Such a soft and foolish way to think! How could a miko like you ever come about to this hard world of ours?" Tôjirô's staff thunked hard against the ground as the houshi drew himself up to his full height, his eyes flashing imperiously as he intoned, "All youkai are evil, and that is the truth! I will not rest until _each _and _every_ damned youkai is wiped off the face of Nippon!"

Kagome looked horrified. _'Is there nothing that can penetrate his hatred of youkai?'_

InuYasha growled again, his ears flattening as his grip on Tetsusaiga tightened. "So, even after all that-you _still _don't believe us?"

Tôjirô leaned back, his staff shining with blue lightning as his eyes glinted. "Of course not; I refuse to believe the word of youkai. I shall slay you even if I have to fight until my very last breath."

InuYasha gave the houshi a humorless smirk as he gritted out, "I ain't gonna die at the hands of a human like you!"

Tôjirô sped forward, his staff like a thundercloud over his head as he charged toward InuYasha, who swung the Tetsusaiga at the exact same moment that Tôjirô swung his staff. There was a flash of blue and yellow light as the two weapons collided, the lightning and wind twisting around them like a tempest. Kagome jumped back, shielding her eyes with her arm as she mentally crossed her fingers, hoping that InuYasha wasn't in any way hurt by Tôjirô's attack.

Tôjirô staggered back, hands stinging from the force of Tetsusaiga hitting his staff. InuYasha looked completely unscathed, his Tetsusaiga glowing with youkai power as he glared at Tôjirô. "Now do you understand? I'm on a whole 'nother level, bastard!" InuYasha growled.

"That was only one blow, hanyou! I'm not down yet!" Tôjirô leaped forward again, his staff gleaming with lightning once more.

"Good! I'm havin' too much fun to stop now!" InuYasha shouted as he also leaped forward, Tetsusaiga held high over his head. Even though he was wounded, even though he was tired, InuYasha would rather be damned to Hell than lose against Tôjirô and let him get his hating hands on Kagome again.

Kagome watched the two of them fighting, her eyes filling with tears as she watched the battle mount higher and higher. InuYasha was starting to make some mistakes. Sometimes he would stumble, or he might miss a swing with the Tetsusaiga. When this happened, Tôjirô would leap in and strike with his staff, the sharp metal edge of the six-pointed star slashing across the hanyou's skin and drawing more blood. InuYasha's left eye was shut thanks to a profusely bleeding cut that star had inflicted on him. Tôjirô hadn't gotten away unharmed, though; InuYasha had lashed out and caught him a blow on the arm with his claws when the star had caught him in the leg.

The miko might have believed in the hanyou, but in her eyes this fight would have an obvious victor. _'InuYasha's had a rough few days lately. He's tired, not to mention hurt. Tôjirô may be an older man, but he's had a small chance to rest from his journey and was relatively unharmed. I have to do something, and quick,__ otherwise InuYasha could be turned into a dog again, or worse...'_

"Sango-chan!" Kagome cried, turning back to her taijiya friend, who was cradling the unconscious houshi. "Did you bring my weapons?"

Sango looked up, her eyes confused. "Uh...no, we weren't expecting you to be human, Kagome-chan."

"Then can I-" Kagome froze in mid-sentence, her eyes widening as she slowly turned around.

"What is it, Kagome-chan?" Sango asked urgently, her hand straying toward Hiraikotsu.

"I...I can sense something coming," Kagome whispered. "Something _evil._"

At that very moment, a strong wind came from the East, blowing across the Tsukikage Shrine and carrying with it-

InuYasha's ears stood straight up as he turned with a growl toward the East. "I _know _that scent," InuYasha growled.

Tôjirô turned as well, his highly trained senses feeling the approach of sinister youki. "What in the name of the Kami is going on?" he snarled softly, bringing his staff to face the East.

A few seconds passed in which nothing happened. Everything was normal; the sun shone in the near-cloudless sky, the birds twittered in the trees, which rustled a little in the wind. Then, all at once, the birds ceased their twittering. A black cloud drifted over the sun, casting a dark shadow over the land beneath it. The wind picked up, moaning eerily as the trees bent a little in the tempest. Suddenly, the foliage on the border of the Eastern part of the shrine exploded outward in a blast of acidic venom.

"Kagome!" InuYasha shouted, leaping forward and tackling the miko to the ground. Both of them narrowly avoided the splinters of wood and gobbets of venom that flew overhead, landing with small clatters and hisses on the surrounding flagstones.

Then, moving slowly but surely toward them, the great green head of Dokuga could be glimpsed pushing laboriously over the downed trees, his great nostrils flared in pain as he reared, wobbling slightly. His wounded chest was dripping with acidic blood and nasty yellow pus, streams of the stuff trailing down the diamond spears and splattering onto the ground. With every exhaled breath came rivulets of blood from the hebi youkai's mouth. Facing the startled group before him, Dokuga displayed his green hood as he hissed, _**"Did...did you really think...that you would essscape...the wrath...of Dokuga?"**_

InuYasha got up from where he had landed, panting slightly as he glared at Dokuga with his good eye. "So, ya didn't have the good manners to stay dead, huh?"

_**"I will...never die...not asss long as thossse who murder my kinsssfolk ssstill walk the Earth!" **_Dokuga shouted, more blood spilling from between his jaws as his pained red eyes glared daggers at InuYasha. He growled back, hovering more protectively over Kagome.

The miko was looking up at Dokuga with a mixture of terror and confusion. _'I...I never knew there were cobra youkai,' _she thought, blinking up at the great snake. _'Kami, what kind of monster is he if he can survive InuYasha's Kongousouha?'_

Tôjirô, meanwhile, was staring at the youkai snake like he had seen a ghost. "Impossible...you're that hebi youkai I saw back in that forest! How did you throw off my spell?"

Dokuga's head whipped up, his red eyes flashing as he hissed, _**"What? What do you ssspeak of, houssshi?"**_

"Back in the forest near the village, I subdued a green hebi youkai much like yourself," Tôjirô declared.

Sango stared at Tôjirô. "You mean _you're _the one who got Dokukan?"

"Who?" Tôjirô asked.

Whatever response Sango might have said next was drowned out by Dokuga's cry. _**"YOU! YOU are the ssslaughterer of my ssson, the dessstroyer of the great Terumasssa royalsss! Killer of Dokukan, you will face the wrath of Dokuga!" **_The great snake launched itself forward, mouth wide open, displaying his thin fangs.

Tôjirô recovered from his momentary shock. He straightened up, staff in hand as he faced the charging youkai. "So, you are kin to that disgusting snake in the forest? Well, why don't I send you to him?" The houshi banged his staff down defiantly, his eyes blazing as he lifted his hand and started chanting.

Before anyone could react, Dokuga hit the houshi straight on, smashing right through whatever spell Tôjirô had started. His fangs flashed for a single second before they sank deep into Tôjirô's shoulder. The houshi yelled in agony, blood gushing around the two needle-sharp fangs. InuYasha leaped up, one hand grasping Tetsusaiga as Sango placed Miroku gently on the ground and readied her Hiraikotsu. They were about to charge forward when Tôjirô held up his opposite hand. "Don't you _dare _interfere! I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED-" Tôjirô lifted his staff, his eyes flashing with some sort of inner strength as he managed to lift his staff above his head once more. "-BY THIS TWO-BIT YOUKAI!"

There was an explosion of blue light and a loud screech of pain. Dokuga was launched backward, his body hitting the ground with a tremendous _BOOM_. While the wounds that Tôjirô's spell had given him were pretty bad, they were not the great snake's downfall. As he was falling through the air, the hebi-youkai had twisted so that when he had landed, he had landed on his chest, right on InuYasha's diamond spears. Dokuga's great weight and the force of his fall meant that the three spears were shoved right into his bounding heart, slaying him in an instant. The hebi youkai lord lay dead on the shining flagstones, blood spilling from his open mouth and his shredded chest.

As it turned out, Dokuga's opponent was faring little better.Tôjirô had collapsed on the ground, his staff clattering away into a pool of the hebi youkai's blood. His breathing became raspy as his good hand went to the bleeding wounds in his shoulder. As Dokuga had once said, his poison was very potent, and it was this very poison that was proving to be the houshi's undoing. He reclined on the stone ground and was still, his breathing harsh in the stillness of the aftermath.

Kagome got up from where InuYasha had knocked her down and headed over to where Tôjirô had fallen, but was stopped when InuYasha put his hand on her shoulder. "He doesn't deserve your sympathy," he growled, "and even if he did, there ain't nothing you can do for him."

The miko gently lifted his hand from her shoulder, her brown eyes sad as she replied, "I know, but that doesn't mean I can't at least try." Turning back toward the downed man, Kagome slowly walked over and crouched down beside Tôjirô. The houshi's rolling gray eyes focused on her, narrowing slightly as he realized who she was.

"You...you are that...that youkai lover?" he asked, blood bubbling up in his mouth.

"Yes," Kagome replied simply. "Is...is there anything I can do to help?"

Tôjirô snorted weakly. "Even if there...was something you could do, I wouldn't...want you to help. I...I will...I will never accept the help of those who consort with youkai, even in death."

Kagome sighed sadly. "Even death won't make you realize that not all youkai were evil?"

For the first time since she'd met the houshi, Tôjirô's eyes became doubtful. "They...youkai have to be evil. They raped my mother, killed my sensei, and...and all those other evil things they do! Even...even...I must kill them all...it's...it's what my...Chikanaka...would want..."

"Tôjirô, Tôjirô, my friend's old pupil...how could you be so blind?"

Everyone started and looked up. The old houshi who usually swept the steps of Tsukikage Shrine was standing over Tôjirô. How and when he had gotten there, nobody knew, but he was now stooping over Tôjirô's crumpled and bleeding form.

Tôjirô's eyes now struggled to focus on him as he managed to gurgle, "E-elder? Wh-what do you mean?"

The old houshi sighed as he placed one gnarled hand on Tôjirô's uninjured shoulder. "Tôjirô, Chikanaka knew that there were good youkai in the world, a lesson he tried hard to pass onto you. No matter how hard he tried, you never seemed to notice his lessons, so intent were you in taking revenge on your mother's death. Then, before my old friend could start healing your soul, he died, and further fueled the flames of your hatred. Trust me when I say that Chikanaka wanted you to live like a true man of the cloth; free of hatred, working only for the good of mankind."

Tôjirô grimaced slightly as more blood burbled past his lips. "I...I _did_ work...for the good of mankind. I...I regret...I regret nothing."

InuYasha now walked over to the dying houshi, his golden eye sardonic as he stared down at Tôjirô. "So...this is how it ends, bastard? Even when you learn that your master accepted youkai, you _still _hate 'em?" he asked, quiet incredulity lacing his voice.

Tôjirô's bloody face broke out into a pained smirk. "Are...are you surprised...youkai?"

InuYasha shrugged. "Not really. I always knew you were a no-good mother fucker."

"InuYasha!" Kagome chided.

Tôjirô snorted weakly. "Filthy hanyou."

InuYasha said nothing for a few seconds, ear twitching slightly as he stared down at Tôjirô. Then he spoke, his voice almost inaudible. "Sorry for breakin' your damn dokko."

Tôjirô's dimming gray eyes widened in abrupt alarm. "S-s-sorry?" he choked, eyes rolling terribly as he tried to focus on InuYasha. "But...but...but...youkai...cannot...be...sorr...sorry." Tôjirô's head fell to the side as his eyes misted over, one last breath rushing out from between his teeth as the hand staunching the blood on his shoulder went limp. The ghost of his surprise still lingered on his face, etched into the lines of his mouth and eyes.

The elder houshi sighed sadly. "Why do I always live when those I love die?" he murmured, reaching out with his wrinkled hand to shut Tôjirô's eyes.

A sudden hissing sound broke though the melancholy moment. Though not as potent as his venom, Dokuga's blood was acidic enough to melt through some weaker materials...and Tôjirô's wood and wire staff was not an exception. As the group watched, the six-pointed star bubbled, frothed, then broke apart and dissolved into a murky metallic soup. Kagome gasped slightly as something inside of her that she hadn't even known was tensed suddenly relaxed as Tôjirô's spell broke once and for all. Farther away, at the foot of the stairs to the Tsukikage Shrine, Shippou transformed back into himself with a great cry of joy.

A few moments of silence passed as the wind blew over the Tsukikage Shrine, rustling in the trees and causing ripples to form in the pools of blood surrounding both Dokuga and Tôjirô.

"So it's over," Sango finally said quietly.

InuYasha sighed slightly, eyes closing as he let the exhaustion of the past few hours wash over him. It crashed through him in a black wave; the fight against the hebi youkai, the race to Tsukikage Shrine, and the fight with Tôjirô all taking their toll on the hanyou's body. Kagome sensed that InuYasha was going to collapse just seconds before he did; she leaped forward and caught him so that her body cushioned his fall rather than the hard flagstones of the ground beneath him.

"Poor InuYasha," Kagome cooed softly, her free hand smoothing out the tangles in the hanyou's soft silver mane as she nuzzled his fuzzy ears. "You've been through so much the past few days, haven't you? But it's all right now," she soothed, stroking his cheek like a mother with a babe as she comforted her tired hanyou. "It's all right now, InuYasha. It's over."


	28. Epilogue: What I've Learned

The old houshi who took care of Tsukikage Shrine was kind enough to let the wearied group stay at the shrine's guesthouse. When Kagome asked him if there was anything they could do for him in return, the aged man's mouth creaked into a wrinkled smile. "It is quite all right, young ones. You have done enough for one day. It would be cruel of me to make you overexert yourselves when you are already so tired. Just rest and recuperate for now," he told them, his blind eyes crinkling as he smiled a sad smile up at the two women who were supporting their less than conscious males.

They thanked him up and down for several minutes before he finally waved them off, retreating slowly and creakily out of the door of the Tsukikage Shrine, aged broom in hand. He walked through the main courtyard of the Tsukikage Shrine, carefully avoiding the areas that had been roped off; the areas where Dokuga's venom and blood had seeped into the flagstones. With some luck, there would be a new contingency of houshi and miko here to help with the repairs necessary to make the Tsukikage Shrine whole again. _'The shrine will be whole,' _the elder houshi thought sadly, _'but its scars will never heal.'_

Finally, the houshi arrived at the place where he had instinctively needed to be; the deathbed of Tôjirô, his friend Chikanaka's last apprentice, and the man he thought would be succeeding him as caretaker of the Tsukikage Shrine. The houshi didn't have to see to know that Tôjirô looked somewhat peaceful as he lay back on the floor of the shrine, or to know that Chikanaka's sokushin-butsu looked more melancholy than usual. The feelings in his heart knew by instinct that Chikanaka's dried up corpse always seemed to cry when it looked down on a scene so sad beneath it.

"Ah, Tôjirô," the houshi sighed, straightening the dead houshi's clothes as he looked blindly down at his face. "I had wished that it wouldn't end this way for you, my friend's last student. Now, though, there is nothing I can do about it."

"Um...excuse me?"

The soft voice spoke from the entrance of the main shrine building, causing the old houshi to turn around. Though he could not see, he recognized the voice well enough. "My dear, I didn't think you would want to come to this place again, especially considering that this almost became _your _tomb as well," the houshi stated quietly.

Kagome walked slowly into the main shrine building, taking in the strange statues of the various Kami and the houshi's dried up body presiding over the lot with only a little bit of caution. Then her brown eyes fell upon Tôjirô. "I'm sorry for asking this, but I need to search Tôjirô's robes," she said, wincing slightly as the sentence left her lips.

The houshi looked at her, his old face falling into a mask of confusion. "Whatever for?"

"He has...something. Something that would deny him a proper rest if..._it _was left with him. Please let me get it," Kagome asked, mentally crossing her fingers.

The old houshi considered, then sighed. "If it would deny my friend's greatest student his rest, then you may take it, dear."

Kagome nodded, then turned to face Tôjirô. "Sorry about this," she murmured gently as she stretched out one hand and lifted the front of his robes away, the other quickly darting inside and removing that which she sought. Her hands closed over the two shikon-no-kakera in Tôjirô's robes and withdrew them, the shards glowing a bright pink color as Kagome's spiritual powers purified any taint that remained on them.

"Are my senses deceiving me, or do I sense the Shikon-no-Tama?" the old houshi asked, his blind face turned towards Kagome, a questioning look in his milky eyes.

Kagome wasn't really surprised that the old houshi knew of the Shikon-no-Tama; after all, he _was _a very old houshi. What _did _surprise her was the fact that he was able to sense the presence of the jewel, if not its location. "Well, sort of," she clarified. "Tôjirô managed to get two shikon-no-kakera, probably from a youkai that he fought. I saw them right before the hebi-youkai bit him, but I didn't get a chance to ask him for them. I know that if he's buried with the shikon-no-kakera, there _will _be more youkai coming to the Tsukikage Shrine. Shikon-no-kakera are a gift no youkai would ever pass up."

The old houshi smiled serenely at her. "Most people in your position would let Tôjirô keep them and be devoured as punishment for wronging them, you know," he told her.

"Yeah, well, I wouldn't want the same done to me," Kagome mumbled awkwardly.

* * *

"Nnnnrgh..."

InuYasha's head felt like it had been used as a drum, it was throbbing and aching so badly. For a few seconds, he wondered what he had done to make his head ache so much. Then he remembered lightning, poison and lots of blood.

_'S'right...I was fightin' Tôjirô, and then that Dokuga bastard showed up and they killed each other. Doesn't explain what happened to __**me**__, though,' _he thought, trying very hard to ignore the pounding between his ears. Slowly, he opened his eyes, wincing as the picture appeared over-brightened and blurry.

"You okay?" a familiar voice asked. "You've been asleep for a long time."

InuYasha's ear twitched at the sound of Kagome's voice. Suddenly, his pounding head didn't seem to hurt so much. _'Kagome's okay!'_

InuYasha sat up quickly and immediately wished he hadn't. His head felt like it was about to split open like an overripe melon as he swayed a little on the spot.

"Inu_Yasha,_" Kagome said exasperatedly, and the hanyou felt her petite hand on his chest, pushing against him to make him lie down again. "I keep telling you _not _to push yourself when you're hurt. I know you heal faster than humans, but still-"

InuYasha silenced her by grabbing the wrist of the hand that was trying to push him down and tugging gently, which resulted in Kagome falling over, right into his red-clad lap. His eyes finally decided to focus just then, so he could see Kagome sprawled in his lap and the bandages covering his bare chest and arms. "Nice to see you, Kagome," InuYasha growled, trying to hide his pleasure behind a neutral expression.

Kagome's angry expression slipped away at the obvious pleasure in the hanyou's voice. "Nice to see you, too," she giggled. "You've been asleep for nearly two days...I was pretty worried."

InuYasha snorted. "I've told ya once, an' I'll tell you again-I'm _not _like you humans! I can take-" The hanyou's ears twitched as his brain finally processed the first part of Kagome's sentence. "Wait-_two days? _I was out for _two days?_"

"Yes; I guess you were just really tired after all the fighting with Tôjirô and with those hebi youkai, not to mention the running you had to do, too. You, Sango-chan and Miroku-sama started sleeping pretty much as soon as you guys got in here," Kagome said quietly. "It was just me and Shippou-chan for a while. We...we were both very worried about you. Your wounds have _mostly _healed, but I think they'll still need another day or two before you're completely okay again."

InuYasha scowled. "I'll be okay, K'gome!"

Kagome gave InuYasha a small half-smile as she smoothed his bandages down with the tips of her fingers. "Yeah," she said, her voice slightly wistful. InuYasha felt a light blush dusting his cheeks as Kagome snuggled up to him and wrapped her arms about his torso.

"I'm glad you're all right, InuYasha," Kagome murmured into his chest. "I was so scared when you collapsed like that...I thought...I thought..."

InuYasha wrapped his arms around the small form of his miko, his cheeks going even redder. "S'okay," he mumbled. "I'm fine...really."

Kagome pulled her head back to look the hanyou straight in the eye, her brown orbs gazing solemnly into his golden ones. If InuYasha could have described his condition, he might have said that his brain had melted and started trailing out of his ears. _'She...is she gonna...is she gonna...' _The thought never quite managed to finish itself in the poor hanyou's brain as the miko drew closer to him, her eyes drifting shut as the tip of her nose touched his own.

"Kagome! I got the water you wanted me to get!" Shippou cried, a bamboo tube of water slung over his little shoulder as he darted into the room. In an instant, Kagome had leaped backward, away from InuYasha as her cheeks went impossibly pink.

"Uh...what are you doing?" Shippou asked, his tiny brow wrinkling in confusion.

InuYasha reached out and bopped the kitsune on the head, a fierce scowl on his face. "None of your damn business, fuckin' kit," he growled.

* * *

Several days passed, and everyone started to recover. Miroku and Sango were both well on their way to healing and managed to share a room without fighting. InuYasha's wounds were healed in three days, so he spent most of his time prowling the grounds of the Tsukikage Shrine, lost in thought.

Ever since the scene in the room, InuYasha had been thinking about Kagome and all the things he had learned when he had been turned into a dog, as well as when she had been turned into a cat. Most of all, he was thinking about the fact that he loved her. A hanyou from the Sengoku jidai, whose only possessions were the Tetsusaiga and the clothes on his back, loved a miko from the Heisei jidai. However, InuYasha hadn't told Kagome about this very important fact, simply because he hadn't managed to get alone with her. If the others would just butt out for one damn minute, he thought, then he would be able to tell her. But they just wouldn't _leave it alone!_

'_Never thought havin' friends would be a **bad **thing,' _InuYasha thought bitterly to himself whenever the houshi or taijiya happened to interrupt his rare moments with Kagome._  
_

* * *

Then, one night, five days after his arrival at the Tsukikage Shrine, InuYasha awoke to discover that there was an orange glow outside of the shoji-screened room. It was bright and flickered from time to time.

He also saw that Kagome was awake; her back was to him as she faced the shoji screen closest to the glow. "K'gome? What the fuck's going on?" InuYasha grumbled grumpily, rubbing his sleeve across his eyes as he got up and went over to her.

Kagome didn't reply at first. Then, right when InuYasha was starting to get impatient, she spoke in a strangely hollow voice. "That's...Tôjirô's funeral pyre. The old houshi is finally putting him to rest," she murmured.

InuYasha flicked a glance toward her, confused by the odd tone in Kagome's voice. The miko's face was composed, but there were fresh tear tracks on her face as tears trailed down her cheeks. "Kagome, why the fuck are you crying?" InuYasha asked, wincing slightly at the overly demanding tone of his voice. _'Yeah, that'll comfort her...'_

"It's...it's nothing," Kagome mumbled, scrubbing her eyes with her sleeve. "I...I just..."

"Fuck this," InuYasha snarled, and before Kagome could say anything, InuYasha had swept her up and carried her out the door. The _whoosh _of the pyre became audible as he stepped outside, the flames brighter and somehow more menacing.

InuYasha did what he always did whenever he felt stressed; he headed for the forest and jumped into the nearest tree. He made sure Kagome was nice and comfortable in his lap before fixing her with an intense golden stare. "K, Kagome, tell me-why the fuck are you crying?" he demanded.

Kagome sniffed a little bit and wiped her eyes again. "It's...it's just..."

"Just what?"

"It's just that...I just wish that Tôjirô...that we could have made Tôjirô understand. I really thought that he would have been able to understand that all youkai aren't so bad. It...it almost feels like we failed," Kagome said sadly.

InuYasha's golden eyes became shuttered as a scowl automatically flickered across his face. Kagome knew that look very well; it was the look InuYasha wore when he was thinking about his past. "Some bastards don't ever change, Kagome," he said, his voice half-way between wistful and pissed off. "They just don't. They think they know how the world works an' it can't work any other way. There ain't a way in Hell that people like Tôjirô could ever change their minds. The world just doesn't work like that."

"I wish it could," Kagome sighed.

InuYasha blinked, then his scowl slipped off of his face. _'I think it's time for a change of topic. I'm fuckin' tired of talkin' about Tôjirô.' _

Then InuYasha remembered something that had been on his mind ever since that first morning by the fire when Kagome had sobbed into his fur-clad shoulder. _'...I promise I'll try to make things better...'_

"Hey, Kagome," InuYasha started, not sure how to continue. How was one supposed to tell a woman that he'd been in love with her for the past few years when she seemed to have a special ability to make his brain completely useless?

Kagome looked at him, her sparkling brown eyes a perfect reflection of the sky overhead. "Yes?"

InuYasha looked at the miko sitting in his lap, trying his hardest to decided how to phrase the feelings whirling through him and _not _making it sound like an insult or really stupid. "Uuuh..." InuYasha's ears flattened to his head as he thought.

Then an idea came to him.

"K'gome, I've...I learned a lot of things when I was a dog," he said, blushing slightly as the words left his lips. Once again, he wondered why his mouth could always manage to natter for hours on end when he was in battle, and yet, when he was facing this one miko, his tongue seemed to become much too large for his mouth.

Kagome went bright red. "I...please tell me it has nothing to do with that night in the hot spring," she mumbled, her hands rising to cover her cheeks.

InuYasha's blush deepened when he realized what Kagome was talking about. "No, it's...uh, well, I mean, that's, well, it's part of it-but not what you think!" he spluttered, his blush practically spreading to the tips of his flattened ears as his entire body burned with awkward embarrassment. "I mean, nothin' about...y'know...about, well, about-"

Kagome seemed to recover from being embarrassed when she saw InuYasha's reaction to her inquiry. In fact, she had started giggling when the hanyou started sputtering. "Me being naked?" she finished for him, still blushing slightly, but tittering now.

InuYasha's voice left him in a breath that sounded strangely like a squeak, his pupils dilated to at least several times their normal size as his face went so red that it blended in perfectly with his haori. "So...if it wasn't about how I looked when I was in the hot spring," Kagome continued for the stricken hanyou, "What _did _you learn, exactly?"

InuYasha seemed to recover from his brief bout of mega-embarrassment; his ears lifted off his head as the blush receded from his cheeks. "First of all, I learned somethin' I probably should have learned a year or two ago-I never really knew," he mumbled, almost in an ashamed sort of way, "just how...uh, _devoted _ya are to me."

Kagome's eyes were abruptly filled with understanding, and she, too, looked slightly ashamed. "I can't really help it," she tried to explain, "I...I've..."

"Ya love me," InuYasha mumbled in disbelieving sort of tone.

A pink blush spread out across the bridge of Kagome's nose as she nodded. "Well...yeah. But...the way you reacted that...that night I told you...I guess you don't feel the sa-"

For the first time in his life, InuYasha felt compelled to silence someone in a way he wouldn't even have considered before. As swift as the wind, the hanyou leaned over and let his lips gently caress those of his miko in a soft butterfly kiss. When he pulled away, InuYasha noticed with some satisfaction that Kagome looked vaguely surprised.

"Fuckin' hell, is _that _what's been makin' you so depressed?" he asked, though his voice was not as biting as his words were. Kagome nodded mutely, one trembling hand coming up to touch her lips. "Baka, baka, _baka_!" InuYasha snickered, and to her surprise-and his as well-the hanyou threw his head back and laughed like he had never laughed before. "I wasn't fuckin' _upset _that night!"

"You...weren't?" Kagome finally asked, her face confused as she considered him. "But...b-but the innkeeper said that you were running around and barking like a maniac!"

"Because I'd _never been so fuckin' happy in my entire life!_" InuYasha emphasized. "Kagome, no-one has told me that they loved me for _two hundred years. _Not even Kikyou said anything about loving me...at least, not _directly._" The hanyou's hands came up to encompass Kagome's face as he stared directly into her eyes, gold mixing with brown as their gazes locked. "I guess I sorta overreacted that night, but I think it was okay, given the circumstances."

"You were happy?" Kaogme asked, her voice barely a whisper. Her eyes were filling up with tears again, though this time it was for a different reason. "Really?"

InuYasha snorted. "Kagome, I don't _lie _when I'm talkin' about my feelings."

Kagome's heart felt like the tracks of a runaway train as it pounded heavily in her chest. "Your...feelings?"

InuYasha went red, but nodded resolutely. "Yeah. I...I realized after...after you let Kikyou...you let her put my spells on you...that...that I..."

Kagome looked at him, the tears in her eyes overfilling and trailing down her cheeks as she stared at him. _'Is...is he...could he possibly...'_

"...I...love you."

The hanyou's voice was so soft that it was barely even a whisper, and yet, Kagome managed to hear it. If it was possible for Kagome's heart to jump out of her chest, it probably would have broken the world record for the long jump.

The miko looked at InuYasha as if she was just seeing him for the first time. The light from the half-moon overhead glinted in his hair, making the long strands look like they were woven from silver threads and the moonlight itself. His golden eyes were shining with a brilliant inner light, more alive than Kagome could ever remember them being. His cute ears were twiddling anxiously atop his head as he watched her with an increasingly frantic look on his face. It was truly the first time Kagome had gotten to appreciate the hanyou's looks since he had stepped on Tôjirô's dokko in the forest and set the wheels of fate in motion. She was only mildly surprised by how much she had missed looking at him in his true form.

"Uh...Kagome?" InuYasha asked, his voice almost timid. "Why are you crying?"

Kagome sniffled as the tears coursed down her face. "B-because I'm _happy, _baka!" she cried, flinging herself into his arms and nearly knocking the two of them out of the tree. InuYasha managed to keep his balance, though, his arms wrapping tightly around Kagome-partially to make sure she didn't fall out of the tree, but mostly because she _had _just thrown herself into his arms. The hanyou buried his nose in her hair, inhaling the sweet scent that he had missed so much as Kagome wailed happily into his chest. The growl/purr started in his chest once more as he held her close to his heart; the heart which the miko in his arms had unconsciously helped to heal.

"Don't even remember when I started lovin' ya," he mumbled into her hair. Kagome's sobs grew less in force as she tried to listen to him. "I didn't tell ya...partially cuz I was afraid you wouldn't feel the same-" Kagome made a small sound of indignation which was muffled by InuYasha's chest. "Yeah, I _know _I was wrong, you don't haveta tell me," InuYasha growled, though his voice was more playful than annoyed. "But that wasn't _the _only reason I never told ya."

"There were other reasons?" Kagome asked, her curiosity aroused as she tilted her head at InuYasha in a cat-like way.

"Hell yeah. I didn't really think that I was in love with ya, but that...that was more of a...well, it wasn't that important." InuYasha's face took on that shuttered quality again as he turned his face up toward the stars.

"Then...then what _was _important?" Kagome asked, confused again.

InuYasha didn't respond at first; it looked like the hanyou was trying to gather his thoughts as he stared up at the starry black heavens. Kagome didn't interrupt the hanyou's thinking; as she had once said, it was better to give InuYasha time so he could gather his courage, as well as his words. "...I think...I was afraid," he finally muttered, his ears flattening against his head as his eyes went to the trunk of the tree.

"Afraid to be in love?" Kagome asked, getting straight to the root of the problem.

The hanyou nodded. "It's...fuck, it's just cuz every person I ever loved either died or didn't love me like I loved them."

Kagome nodded in understanding, her eyes suddenly very sad. "You were afraid of getting hurt again." InuYasha nodded again, his eyes distant.

Kagome buried her face into InuYasha's shoulder, her arms squeezing him so tightly that the hanyou thought his ribs might break. "I promise," she said, her voice muffled by his haori, "I _promise _not to leave you or hurt you like that. _I promise._"

The corner of InuYasha's mouth kicked up at the sincerity in Kagome's voice. "Thanks, Kagome," he said, the gratitude in his voice easy to hear.

Kagome lifted her face away from InuYasha's shoulder, her eyes over-bright as she stared into InuYasha's face. Then, much like she had that time in the Tsukikage Shrine's guest room after he'd first woken up, she leaned forward, eyes drifting shut as her hand moved to the back of his neck. However, this time, InuYasha knew what she wanted. His hand shifted to the small of her back, his own eyes lazily closing as he moved to meet her halfway. This time, there was no annoying kitsune to interrupt the sweet kiss that the two of them shared as their lips met. Though hesitant at first, they slowly gained confidence as time went by, growing steadily bolder as their lips gently fought.

When he pulled back, InuYasha could see the bright fire of the pyre in the corner of his eye. Though he hated the houshi for the things he had done to them, InuYasha couldn't help but feel the tiniest of tiny shreds of gratitude toward the dead Tôjirô. Tôjirô's spell had given InuYasha a chance to see the feelings that Kagome had managed to hide from him; the strength of her devotion to him, and the way it hurt her when he went away for any reason. Then, when Kagome had become a cat, InuYasha had been given the push he needed to realize his feelings for Kagome as what they truly were; love, rather than just friendship.

_'I still hate your guts, Tôjirô,' _InuYasha thought with a scowl, _'but your spell helped me'n'Kagome get together, so I s'pose it all evens out. Anyway, you're kinda dead, so there's not really any point in hatin' ya.'_

Kagome made a small purring sound as she happily nuzzled InuYasha's neck, her face more contented than he could ever remember seeing it. InuYasha realized at that moment that he felt content as well. Not that he hadn't felt content before, but now it stretched beyond the feelings he'd had previously, all the way to the core of his scarred soul.

The world wasn't quite perfect yet; Naraku still plagued the Earth along with all of his incarnation, the Shikon-no-Tama had yet to be dealt with, and Kikyou lurked somewhere in the shadows of the world, still hateful and willing to drag him into Hell.

But it was different now.

Now, InuYasha had Kagome, and together they would face whatever lay in their path.

_***~*The End*~***_

* * *

_A/N: A huge thank you to all the people who supported this fanfic, especially during the times that I thought it was never going to work out. Really, I never expected this story to be so popular, and there were many times where I thought I had done badly. But you all stuck with me and helped make this story the awesome tail it is. Thank you, thank you, **THANK YOU! **Currently, I have no plans for any stories in the future, but I'm thinking!_

_Once again, thank you for reading _Tall Tails!_  
_


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